Fantasy Are you tired of sipping Crab Coladas? (Pirate RP) (Always Open)

[Kylesar1]

Sister Mariah
Corrupted Corridor​

Mariah was pushed savagely against a wall, a wild-eyed fearful Elaina angrily shaking her, the gun pressed to her chin. "WHAT HAVE YOU SICK BASTARDS BEEN DOING TO THESE CHILDREN, HUH?!?" The woman's eyes were red and crying
Mariah felt her life flashing before her eyes. She was in imminent danger, but it wasn't like she could defend herself. The dagger she was given was dropped as soon as she laid eyes on the interior of the room. All she could do was plea. "I knew nothing about any of this, Lady Elaina," she said desperately, her own tears streaming down her face. "I swear on all that is holy, I knew nothing about this."

Slap! The sharp smack of Elaina's palm stunned her and sent her tumbling. Now the gun was pressed to her forehead. "HOLY!?! WHAT THE FUCK ABOUT THIS PLACE IS HOLY, MARIAH?!" Elaina shrieked in her face, and Mariah hated to admit that there was indeed nothing holy about that sight. "There is a hidden path to a rotting room full of corrupted children! You've been breeding demons under this fucking church!" The gun cocked and, while Mariah didn't know much about guns, she didn't need to see it in action to know that cocking a gun to someone's head was the gun equivalent of pressing a blade to someone's throat until it began to draw blood. She was about to die here

"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, LADY ELAINA!" Mariah screamed back, "Those are ANGELIC words of power. You can't house demons in an Angelic room. Please please listen to reason. Don't kill me please, I knew nothing about this." The woman couldn't speak anymore, reduced to a blubbering sobbing mess with her words coming off more as desperate croaks than human speech. She couldn't take this. This holy place had turned into the opposite. These children were forsaken and things started to make sense. Why children ended up gone. Why nuns ended up "transferred." They had to have been lied to. Her evidence? That adult that lay dead in the floor had on their nun attire. "It must be Blight. Please let me try to figure this out."

The gun relented after a 60-second-feeling 10 seconds. "Get up," came a labored but forceful breath. On the shakiest foundation, Mariah used the wall to push herself up to the glaring eyes of her partner in crime. "You're right. Demons couldn't be in that room. You're not leaving though. We're in this."
The fact that she didn't want to hear that she wasn't out of the woods was overshadowed by the fact that it seemed like she wasn't about to die yet. "You're not gonna kill me?"
"In a heartbeat if I find that you're lying to me," was her chilling response. Despite Elaina's sort of mischievous nature up to this point, Mariah felt like Elaina put some small level of actual trust to drag her along this far. All of that was dead right now despite Mariah knowing that she was telling the truth. It made sense. This was not a good look for her or for the Church as a whole. She was glad though that despite Elaina's wild emotions, her inquisitive nature and desire for knowledge made her see reason........and none of this made enough sense to leave it unsolved
Wiping her tears, Mariah needed to salvage as much trust as she could. "Can you call the holy angel? I promise I'm not lying."
"..................." Elaina tapped her crystal twice. "Elaina to Evangeline. We got Blight down here."
".........alright." The connection cut off. Another double tap. "Elaina to Laylah. Evangeline told me you're investigating Blight. There's a large amount of it here..............I'm with one of these nuns..............no, I won't kill her...........ok." The connection cut off and Elaina looked to Mariah. "I got Laylah coming to investigate."
"Is that another angel?"
"Yes. A 6 star angel, and the doctor of our crew."
A 6 STAR?! A Seraph?!
"We will not be leaving until we figure this out, so buckle up." Elaina said. "If this Church is corrupted, it will be useless against the demon."
There was about to be a night ahead of them, and Mariah didn't WANT to rest until this place became holy again.


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Sebas Deadeye
Weapons Wing- Hall​

Sebas entered the Weapon's Wing after Fergie and Bogrum's conversation. He did catch Bogrum though. "Heard from Avery and heard his justification. Lighter load aside, this does play into your strengths." Thinking about how he leads, Sebas realized that Avery's justification made sense. Demi really was better suited for an assault running a ship, and Bogrum was absolutely better postured as either reinforcements or defense. Bogrum seemed to fighting a form of air sickness right now, and Sebas wouldn't have noticed it if they weren't all so drained from this. Bogrum's air legs were as slow going now than it was when they first boarded this ship. Keeping him grounded was the smartest play to make.

"Oi, Sebas." A figure hobbled up to him, interrupting their conversation. A particular Tiefling conman, looking like he could barely walk.
"You can plainly see me talking here, Dura. What do you want?" Sebas said sharply, "Stand up straight."
"I wish I could, but YOU reneged on your promise," Duradel said, meeting his eyes without hesitation
"Fuck off, I didn't renege on shit," he fired back
"Bullshit, you said if I performed well, you wouldn't re-curse me. What is this then?"
Ah, that's why he moved like he just barely made it out of a gorilla pit. "You think I got the power to re-curse you without Lostro present?"
"Well I'm cursed," Duradel said darkly, "and I know the familiar feeling of that child cursing me. Figure this out."
Sebas socked Duradel square in the face for such insubordination. He screamed out in pain as he tumbled to the floor and screamed again as he landed. Yeah, the feeling of every bone in your body being broken probably didn't feel pleasant. Dura should've thought about that when he decided to speak like he had 50 lbs on him. "You always forget your place on this ship." It was incredibly alarming to know that Lostro cursed him without his word, but there was no way he was about to accept a false accusation or insubordinate nonsense from someone like Duradel. "You DO realize that you have Lostro's favor so you can be that demon's plaything, right?" Lostro viewed Duradel as a toy, and as a child around pirates, play time always took on a rough-housing turn. Hell, the primary idea of fun aboard the Canine was drunk shooting each other on the SHF

All fight seemed to leave his body with that punch. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it was you, but I do know it was her," he said from the floor, not even trying to get up. If there was one thing Sebas would always find impressive about Duradel, it was his ability to speak clearly even in immense pain. Maybe it came from the conman thing. "Can you please figure it out? I'm gonna be honest in that I don't think you were intending for Lostro to re-curse me when you said that you wouldn't re-curse me." He was exactly right for that assumption. This means Lostro had a reason to re-curse him, and that she decided to undermine him. That was NOT a good thing because the last time she decided to act in rebellion was when she ended up sealed in that room isolated from everyone in the first place for being too big a danger. Sebas was a man of his word. He'd leave this whole crossed fingers shit to people like Duradel
"Have you done something that would make Lostro curse you again?" Sebas asked, making sure he did his own due diligence
"I got cured and then we dropped to the bottom. I couldn't have done anything," Dura said, "Tell ya what. If you push express shipping on curing me, I'll upgrade your shotgun."
Sebas met his proposal with a furrowed brow. "After being cursed for doing the opposite?"
"I swear it, your shotgun will be all the better." Dura seemed desperate. "If not, curse me to die the moment your shotgun malfunctions due to my alterations. I can't do this curse thing anymore." Made sense to beg for a release
It was a hard bargain. Duradel really did have genuine talent for weaponry and upgrading it. He snatched Duradel to his feet and enjoyed the pained screams as Duradel's cursed body moved more than he wanted to. Sebas then took a Stim Shot and slammed it into Dura's body, letting the potion painfully course through his body

"Get to work. If it's not done by morning, she'll cast a bigger curse on you.........." Sebas slapped into Duradel's hands his trusted shotgun and walked off still towards Lostro's room, leaving the conversation he was having with Bogrum unfinished and seemingly forgotten. ".......and when she's exorcised, she more than likely won't have the power to remove it."

Duradel looked to Bogrum on Sebas's exit. "......I take it that Fergie is in this wing too. Please tell me she's not in the armory. I got work to do," He said, kind of pleading to be left in peace with his work. Both Sebas and Duradel had their work cut out for them. Sebas honestly wanted to be left alone, but now he had to deal with this shit. At least he was getting a shotgun upgrade out of this. He was gonna need it

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Vespera Marine Seyres
Sacrament of the Arcane HQ- Meeting Room​

Protected? She wasn't an asset that needed to be protected. Nancy was. "I'm deputy Guildmaster," she responded, "Where Arnold isn't leading is where I'm expected to lead." It would be foolish of her to ever think protection is something she needed. As spunky as she was, that spunk didn't come from naivete. In fact, the fact that she COULD confront these challenges and dangers without losing herself contributed to such spunk. "As long as you are protected, I can fight without worry." She was back to the mentality of staying away from the holy, but that was the only worry. As a creature of darkness, she would thrive when this demon summoned, strength increasing to frightening heights while healing off damage. In fact, it was kind of putting her in fear of showing Nancy a side of her he had only seen once before, that Bloodlust Rage.

"Holy or not, I'm fighting." Ves stood up, "Let's make our preparations. Time is of the essence." Nancy was to be positioned at the Church. He needed to gather his stuff. Nellie was at the command of the Sacrament, so her position was up in the air. Regardless, they needed to prep all they could before resting at the dawn of the Defense of Kraiven. "There is a lot to do. I'll take you to grab your stuff then get you to the church." She couldn't go in though, but that's where he was gonna be, and with him being the pinnacle of holiness besides the angels themselves, he would be put to good use there. "This is gonna be whirlwind. But if we made it out of this once, we can win round 2."


(From here, I will close the scene on a bunch of characters in my next post, so we can wrap things up.)
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Bogrum and Fergie​

Sebas coming into view and grabbing his attention took priority, so Bogrum shifted at-attention. He might have asked for an elaboration on what skills were being played into, if there hadn't been an interruption.
Why are people here so rude. Pirates, he supposed. Though Duradel was certainly taking it up several notches, the way he was talking to Sebas. Bogrum didn't even flinch when he got a hearty helping of knuckle sandwich in reward, excessive as it felt to watch. He couldn't say that kind of insubordination would get an orc back at home punched in the face, but he'd definitely be running miles until he puked.

He didn't feel so much a crumb of sympathy for Duradel, though. Bogrum was more concerned about the implications here. He'd seen Duradel be cured, how he walked without the burden of his curse weighing on him. Now it was like that hadn't happened, perhaps even worse now that Duradel's brief taste of freedom had been snatched away. If only Lostro could be responsible, what was she up to? He could try to chalk it up to her and/or Mozza wanting to toy with the man a little more; like a cat would a hapless mouse, demons viewed mortals as entertainment if not simply prey. But it was hard to write it off when Sebas was off to her room in a haste. Staying good on his end of the deal regarding the rifle, or addressing an urgent issue?

Answers not for him, or answers for later. Duradel was addressing him now, and Bogrum returned with the same stare of disapproval as he had when he initially butted into their conversation. Even before that, when he was under his charge during the envoy mission. He had no interest in responding, and Fergie saved him when she came around at his side.

"Egh. Don't flatter yerself, Duradick. I beat yer ass ONCE, and suddenly that makes ye Rival 1#?" Her hands were on her hips, sideways glance dismissive as she marched past Duradel. "Talk's cheap. An' I ain't wastin' any more energy on the shit that flies outta YOUR mouth."

Bogrum gladly took the opportunity to follow without wasting a word. After they made some distance, Fergie hissed in a whisper, "I lied. I wanna cleave off his horns an' shove 'em up his arse."
He sighed. "I know."

Nancy and Nellie Noi​

"I... yeah, I guess that was kind of a dumb way to word it." Thinking on it, any iteration of the question was dumb. Vespera wasn't some average citizen, and was the Royal Courier for more reasons than just her speed. It was easy to forget that her charisma was juxtaposed-- even perhaps aided-- by the fact that she was a vampire. And he'd gotten a plenty good idea of what a vampire could do when in a pinch. "I know you can handle yourself. I just... you know me. Worrying." The first harm he'd seen befall a person in 200 years, and it had been his friend burning in the presence of Holy Magic. The mere thought of "Ves" and "Holy" in the same vicinity made him spooked now more than ever, not that it hadn't been a concern before the fall.

"We'll be okay, Nancy." Though sometimes it was hard for Nellie to believe herself. A trait shared between the two. "Vespera's right. War couldn't destroy us then. Now we're more prepared than ever."
"Goddess willing." And She was, to his great relief. Cowering under the gaze of that blood-hungry angel after learning the fate of his people had made him feel something worse than he had living with said people. Loneliness was not the same as abandonment. Thankfully, they weren't yet abandoned. "I need to get ready. I just wanted to see you before..."
"And you'll see me again," she assured him. "I'll have my duties, but in the meantime, call me." Through the crystals, he could have this entire time. But this might be the last time they'd see each other before it was all over. Whether they would meet in celebration, or in the deep Spirit Waters their Goddess now resided in.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

"Yeah yeah yeah," Duradel said as he kept it moving, brushing her words off. "Too many words just proved that talk is indeed cheap." However, before she could try anything, Duradel shut the door to the armory and locked it, meaning it was effectively closed for the night. No matter what, no matter how many times Duradel got punched and brutalized, he never seemed to cease provoking her. With Sebas, he tended to relent immediately and never does he try it with Lostro. But Fergie.....oh but with Fergie, there was an underlying reason why he never seemed to stop pushing her buttons. The reason seemed far away to find out though, since his presence was so enraging that the urge to punch him in the face always superseded the desire to find out why he was never deterred by the threat of being beaten to a pulp.



But with that, Duradel was locked up tight and left to his work. So how did everyone else prepare for the night?

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Spoiler: Elaina/Mariah/Laylah Takes on Blight

Sister Mariah
Corrupted Corridor​

A flash of light and there was Laylah in front of them, in all her glory. It caused Mariah to drop to her knees like every other time this divine being showed itself in to them.
"This is indeed Blight. A disgusting smell after all this time." were dead serious somber words Laylah said. She looked to Mariah, whose face was almost shoved in the frankly disgusting floor. She would be breathing in this Blight Air if not for Elaina's makeshift filter. She didn't have to look up to feel the holy gaze upon her. "Holy Angel! If I may?" she cried out. Laylah's soothing presence was completely undone by the fact that she was here with Mariah's life on the block.
"Yes?"
"We have been fighting the Blight for a long time, in the shadows of Toron. Being in the Null Realm bought us time, but it never stopped." Mariah had nothing but the truth, because it would vindicate her. "We as nuns are forbidden from ever coming here, or to the room that connected to this area under penalty of excommunication. I promise with every fiber of my being that I didn't know about this place, or how bad things have gotten."
Laylah thought for a moment. It didn't take her long to judge those words, "She speaks the truth," she concluded, "We will require your assistance throughout this, Mariah. Can we count on you?"
"Of course, Holy Angel."
"I am Dr. Laylah Halliet the Guardian. Just Laylah or Doc is fine." she said, which made Mariah a bit nervous. It would feel weird to address an angel by anything other, but it was what she commanded.

Laylah held that air of charge about her as she looked over to the door they had just come out of, the door where they discovered the children and the dead rotting corpse within. "These are Angelic Words of Power, yet there are those infected with Blight within." she said
"There is, Elaina said, "My guess? The Spirit Sea deactivated the ability for holy magic, making the words useless."
"Correct. I'll just reactivate them. It'll purify the corpse. The children inside though are thoroughly blighted. It's.........It'll be a hard one and I'll have to borrow power from my God." Laylah flicked her crystal. "Laylah to Sebas."
"Sebas to Laylah. Loud and Clear."
"Your voice can be heard to everyone." In other words, he was on speaker. "I'm here with Elaina and a nun to make a report."
"Go ahead. Watch your words." This Sebas was short and to the point. Maybe he was at his wit's end, as his gruff voice sounded exhausted.
"There is Blight within this Church."
".........What the fuck is Blight?"
"Blight is-" "Lostro, I won't be long." he chided in a decidedly more gentle voice. It was absolutely a child he was talking to. "It's.......it's not important. I'm just gonna assume it's something that spreads and that you'll handle."
"That is correct. We will stop the spread of it."
"You're best for the job, Doc." A small pause. "Elaina! You alright?"
Elaina looked kind of surprised. "Yes, I am alright." Her words were more articulate and formal. "I am wearing a gas mask to keep from breathing in this air."
"Glad you're alive. Nun! You alright?"
Mariah was just as surprised. She had no idea who the heck Sebas was, but if the Angel was answering to him, he must be strong. "Y-Yes sir!" she stammered, "I am fine for now. I also have a way to not breathe in this air."
"Good. Stay alive. Get this shit solved by morning. We're gonna need the Church. If shit goes down, kill it."
"Sebas, Sebas! What will you need the Church for? Are you going there to pray?"
"One sec, Lostro. Calm down." A pause. "But get it done. We got one shot, Doc. Sebas out." The connection petered out

Laylah gave a long deep sigh, the look on her face that of misery. "It's going to be a long night, ladies. Evangeline and I have Angelic duties to make sure this place is holy again, and if there are corrupt clergy, it's time to get them out. Shall we begin?"

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Spoiler: Nakaos Keeps Working

Nakaos
Weapons Wing- Ship Weapons Hangar​

"This cannon is good." Naka said. This was it. This was the last weapon staged where it needed to be. All ammo stockpiled and put near the cannons, all load/reload drills timed and passing with all deficiencies addressed. While her face was as expressionless as ever, there was a sense of pride instilled in her chest as the last weapon was in pristine condition. Cleaned almost to the point of shine, not a single underlying worry of a jam or a misfire. Her shop had been working nonstop ever since it was made clear that they would be facing Kraiven............and then changed when plans changed for fighting an ancient demon like Mozza. If there was ever one thing that could be said about the Ship Weapons Crew, it was that The Canine was about to prove a powerful force. Neither her nor the Lizardmen bothered to do anything that wasn't ship weapons related. After the blunder that ended in one of their weapons being sabotaged by the rat, they were more thorough than ever..........and more weary than ever of outsiders touching those weapons.

For now though, her crew had done well working like ants. It was time to give them some time off. "Good work being flexible. Naka has pride in this shop." Naka told them, which got cheer from the crew. They all looked worn, but the air of pride in their hard-work was radiating off of them. It was largely a thankless shop from what Naka could observe. No one ever gave them credit for what they did, but they would be all over them should a misfire or wasted ammo or shots not taken when they should ever happens. Tools were only noted when they malfunctioned, not when they are vital to success. It wasn't something Naka herself ever cared about: receiving praise for her work. It wasn't something her lizardmen seemed to care about as well because they were all so close as a group. This manifested itself in a level of perfection and intimacy that Naka knew if someone came at them for an issue, Naka couldn't find a group she would so quickly bat for.

"You are free to go for tonight. Naka has a few more inspections and to report to Raid Captains and Ship Captain."
"No thanks," someone countered. "The shop doesn't shut down while the boss is there."
That kind of caught her off guard. Wouldn't most be ready to leave the moment they were dismissed? "But......there is no more work to be done that Naka knows of."
"What about backups for if cannons are taken out?" While Naka definitely thought of that, she also knew they were scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep themselves from leaving, which caused her to sigh and crack the first semblance of a genuine smile in quite a while.

"............If you insist, work on fixing the cannons destroyed in the Golden Guns raid." She decided to give them this work because since it was such a low priority task, any stopping point was a viable one. She didn't want them working on the backups then delaying when it was time to end work for the day.

"AYE!" They scurried off towards the repair shop, leaving Naka with 2 of the shop leaders. "You two, bring kegs. Naka gets feeling crew will celebrate in shop tonight." While Naka wasn't a drinker due to it being something that could affect her eyesight (something cyclops were pretty sensitive about), she figured she could have a mug or two with her beloved lizardmen.

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Spoiler: Ash Fires Up the Drinks

Ashlynn Thormdottir
Mess Hall
​

Ash was first to initiate the festivities. Sickles sheathed and Mama Bear at the hip, Ash loved a good drink and a nice fattening feast before it was time to work it all off the next day, and this next fight was about to be doozy, so she was down to get dizzy. However, there was something she needed to say first. "My ladies, my men. I have something to say."

She gave a deep sigh. Getting all sappy was not something she tended to enjoy, but she had to reinforce morale here without bullshitting her troops. She had some of the dumbest rocks in the Basenjis at her command, but those men were some of the bravest on the ship bar none. Not Fergie's crew, not Bogrum's, not Avery's, not Sebas's, not Demistral's. HERS. "Do you all know why we as Basenjis do this?"

"It's our pre-emptive victory feast!!" someone yelled out

"Yes, but no," she responded, "I won't let the lot of you forget why we do this. We drink to celebrate each other because this may very well be our last drink together." She let those words linger like their buzz was about to when the drinking began. "I'm hard on you because I care about you and you damn well better care about each other. It will be a FACT that not all of us are making it out of this alive, so we drink before to celebrate each other's lives. We drink after mourning the dead because we didn't let the dead go unavenged." These before-battle feasts were her idea among the Basenjis, something that she got from her homeland. "We don't do what we do because we want to live long. We drink for the life we've lived thus far, then again for living to die another day. We drink for our comrades beside us, then again for those same comrades who can no longer drink with us."

"Just like a woman!" Someone yelled out. "Why is it the women always stall our good times?" This question was yelled out in jest and it made Ash laugh
"Someone has to say what you're all thinking." she fired back, that question igniting a fire in her belly. "I say sober what you idiots cry to me saying drunk, ESPECIALLY you." she pointed to the guy asking the question, who looked embarrassed as the Mess Hall erupted in jolly guffaws. "Hey, I'm proud to be your leader. NEVER forget why we drink. With that said........."

Ash grabbed 2 mugs from the 6 on her table, and she began chugging to cheers. When both mugs were downed, she slammed the glasses on the table and yelled out "TIME TO DRINK, MY TROOPS!!" That's when the music began and the clanking glasses filled the air of the Mess Hall. From the outside looking in, this was a victory feast.....and it was to a degree.

"I will protect you from alcohol poisoning," Mama Bear commented at the foot of the table. "If and only if I get all you can eat."
"Of course." Mama Bear was only allowed this at the onset of a raid and she knew it. Hence Ash knew her sentiment. "If you wanted an excuse to let me go all out, just say it," Ash said at her familiar's transparency
"Oh shut up," Mama Bear countered and pushed Ash away from her with her shoulder, earning a laugh from her. "Don't make me regret this. You're as reckless as Baby Bear."
"Hence why you're the Mama Bear here. Go eat."
"I love you dearly, my cub. I'll see you tomorrow."
"I love you too."


Mama Bear was who she loved the most on this earth. The only one she loved more was in a different realm, hopefully watching over her

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Spoiler: A Father/Daughter Conversation

Demestral and Arnold Asella
Stoneroses HQ​

As the moon came in and the evening turned into full-blown nightfall, Demi could only once again marvel at the beauty of things as well as the strangeness of her father sitting beside her on the roof taking it all in after 200 years. Given the time stop on his body, Demi was about as old as her old man at this point. "Did you ever hold out hope of seeing me again?" she asked him
"That hope kept me going." he said, his voice music in her ears moreso than the words themselves. They were timeless. "I knew that if Kraiven ever came out of the Spirit Sea, that I would've done anything to see you again." It was his turn to ask a question. "Did you think you'd see me again?"
"No......." Demi said, "Knowing you were turned mortal and not knowing where Kraiven had gone after it was devastated by the war, I had nothing to pin any hope to that any of you made it out." She began to tear up and her voice began to crack. "That's why it's surreal beyond my wildest dreams that we're back after 200 fricking years."
"I don't care about the circumstance, I wouldn't trade my time here with you for the world."
"Maybe you'll re-think that tomorrow," Demi responded, "You don't deserve this."
"For what I did with you and your mother?" Arnold scoffed, "Iron doorknobs? I was such an idiot."
"Yeah," Demi laughed, "and you expected us to stay with you." Pure iron and silver was toxic to fairies.
"Yeah, I was stupid and selfish. Too blinded by human glory. I was a horrible father and husband to your mother."
"You were blind, not bad." That was always the distinction Demi would make when talking about her father. It wasn't like he was some abusive father to her. He was just blinded by human glory, and when he renounced his fairy blood to go human, he was negligent of the fact that his daughter had an iron allergy. "I still love you, dad." She embraced her father and it was then that his tears joined hers. It was crazy to know that her father grew, fell back down and then grew again.
He cried into her shoulder. "I can't apologize enough for my stupidity that caused you to leave." Demi was frustrated after a failure of a day and then burned her hand on the doorknob to enter the house since she forgot her gloves. It was this that triggered her emotional meltdown and ultimate decision to leave. She left her father on some VERY harsh words, but she never thought that it would've been the last time she saw him for literal centuries
"I forgave you a long time ago, dad. Mom didn't hate you either." Mom divorced him the moment his fairy blood got revoked. It was effectively like waking up and your partner was the opposite sex. It's a pretty big deal. She was a fairy who wanted to marry a fairy and she did..........until his fairy blood got revoked. At that point, her husband was literally not the man she married nor the father of her child. It took an enormous toll on her and when compounded with the city of Toron, a place not exactly fairy-friendly given the smoke and industrialization causing a LOT of iron usage, she had to leave to find literally greener pastures. Demi knew her mother still loved him since she never really seemed to get over the Kraiven disappearance, but she also knew that them getting back together wasn't happening. Not while Arnold was human, anyways.

Demi's crystal lit up. "GP is back with Orabelle and Chilby. I have to get them back to the ship. I'll turn in here."
"It's great to see how you've grown in the past 200 years." Demi wasn't even an adult when she left. "Beautiful woman you are."
"And it's great to see that you've come back to earth in the past 200 years. No longer the bumbling idiot of a failing guild."
Arnold chuckled as they started walking back into the HQ. "Losing your mother was one thing. Losing you was what kicked me into high gear."
"So what? You don't care about mom?"
"Oh of course I do. My biggest regret in this life of mine was doing the stupid shit to make her leave. It WAS losing you, but you're back."
"I'm going with the crew when we're done here."
"........." A sigh left his body. "I understand, Demi. I never expected you to stay, but can I at least get more time with you before you dust off?"


Given that she was a Wyvern Rider, she could very well take off on her own and return at will. "Of course. We got a LOT of catching up to do."
By this point, there were back in the lobby, with Orabelle and Chilby holding the air of victory about them and holding up their prizes: An ice sword for Chilby and magic tome for Ora. "How was the trip?"
"Mission success!" Ora exclaimed, and Demi could tell that she was worn out and only being kept awake with riding her victory high. "I've never been more cold in my life, but it was easy after Goddess Mariana empowered me."
She smiled at the child's exhausted excitement. "I'm sure Sebas will be glad to hear all about it. Let's head back to the ship. They're partying."

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Spoiler: Avery Ready to Operate

Avery Valencia
Basenji Main Ship- Damond's Lair​

"Damond, we are ready to operate," Avery said. They were in a horseshoe around Damond's throne in the main room. The werewolf's room was best described as a hunter's trophy room, with walls lined with the heads of various animals, and skulls lined with the heads of people or creatures of note, enshrined in a glass box and a description of the victim and a brief description of how Damond felt about the fight. There was probably a comfortable bedroom or something and while Avery had never entered Damond's private chambers, he could tell from peering into it while the door was ajar enough, the pelts of animals probably made the comfort of the room, a man sleeping very well knowing how many he's killed. He was a walking Bestiary

Beside Avery were about 8 Beastmen, all of them nocturnal or needing very little sleep. They planned on operating in the night. "Alright Avery," Damond told him after a long silence, his red eyes daggerly narrowed as it passed over the group and heavy breath the only sound in the room. Damond had a human form, but among his beastmen, he tended to stay "transformed". "Execute. I will follow your lead. Know that I do not tolerate failure." His voice was dark as always. It was hard to know what went through the man's mind, but all of these Beastmen trained directly under him, the best fighter in the Basenjis. Hand-picked by Damond, he saw the potential in them. Avery could thank Damond for why he was able to do what

Avery's demeanor was entirely different here from how he is in the midst of the Canine Crew. With the Canine Crew, Avery was less resolved, more restless and anxious. Here in the midst of Damond and the Beastmen, Avery was decidedly more hardened. Which one was the facade? "We will not fail." Sebas was depending on him to do his part for this operation, so he'd be damned if he didn't go all the way through. "Word of caution. There is a True Vampire girl there. She is the deputy Guildmaster of the Stoneroses Guild. You must stay your claw to avoid breaking apart the temporary alliance between Basenji and Kraiven."
Damond snorted. "Sebas is a fucking idiot for taking on this charade."
"Sir." Avery's voice was harder now. "Call into question his actions all you want, but I would appreciate it if you didn't insult that man." This was respectfully telling him to back off. Damond wanted to hunt, and was salty that Sebas prevented this. Avery didn't give a shit
Damond got up and walked over to Avery, his eyes trying to pierce into Avery's soul, his wine-infused breath burning Avery's nose. "There ain't enough hate in you yet, Avery."
Unfortunately for Damond, he was gonna learn for the millionth time that he was not as scared of Damond as much as he loved Sebas. He stared Damond down, unflinching and resolved. "You will derive no benefit from being the one stoking that hatred."
"............hmph! Let us move out."

A Night of Festivities: The Last Supper (?)


When the night passed and dawn cracked over the horizon, there would be no time for reminiscing, no time for joy or for hangovers. That feast, now resting in the bellies of each pirate that partook, may very well be their last supper. It was alcohol and a fat mutton shank that relieved the lingering sense of anticipation and perhaps fear that may or may not have come over the pirates over the course of festivities. A ton of drunken sentimentality

For Sebas, he couldn't have been bothered to drink. He spent the night with Orabelle and explained to her the situation. She knew what to do. Coming down from an adventure and gaining the confidence to know that she could do anything she set her mind to, Ora knew that it was between her, Lostro, and Goddess Mariana. Her potential new (older) sister was sick and scary with something evil. It was time to cure her and bring her home

For the first time ever for the little Triton girl, she went to sleep with less fear than determination in knowing that it was time to confront her big sister. For her papa, it was time to finish the fight and stop running from the problem. It had festered enough. He would never forgive Adonis for this, and the only way to forgive himself for having run from this was to get rid of the evil

The Gods looked down at their Angels, the Enforcer Evangeline and the Guardian Laylah, as they sought to resurrect the dead holiness that resided within Kraiven. There was a Blight in there that was oppressing the Church. With the help of the nuns, most of whom wanted to redeem Evangeline stripping them of their Divine Favor, and only 2 of those nuns who stayed disciplined soon to join them as Primed Angels, the Gods were anticipating something deadly from below that would make them come from above. With the human woman Elaina leading the charge, this time out of trying to expose what happened with this Church instead of her own obsessive search for knowledge for the sake of knowledge, she was also a being of interest to these Gods, much more than any of the actual clergy within Kraiven besides made the two they were ready to make Angels.

From within the Stoneroses, a Vampire girl looked about her office, having delivered the last of the packages, letters, and messages. She held nothing more than fear. However, it wasn't fear for her own life. It was fear for the future on multiple fronts. What would become of her precious guild? The precious capital city that she had called home for well over 2 CENTURIES? Would it be a mistake to leave this place afterwards? What was there for her after this? Was the Seyres Aristocracy alive and well? If not the Aristocracy itself, were her parents still alive? Would they accept her again? Or did they accept her death?

For the Guildmaster, the only thing that was on his mind were the well-being of the Guild and the well-being of his daughter. She thrust herself back into his life and dropped the biggest and most life-threatening bombshell with that crew that she was with but............ he didn't have any place to judge her and her life choices when he was absent from over 2 centuries of her life. He wouldn't even attempt anything further than supporting her decision to move on with this crew and while he couldn't exactly see the good in them, who knew what she saw in them after this long? She was a smart woman who was the entire reason why they weren't all burning in whatever it was that the pirate crew had aboard their flying ships, and he couldn't deny that it was the captain of one of those ships that facilitated the entire deception of King Hemhart with the sole intent of foiling their actual captain's plans out of nothing more than care of Demestral and spite for his captain

With the mind of a reserved catboy filled with thoughts of easing the torture of his love interest, he was ready to go overnight in setting up the pirate crew. Ready to defy even the strongest fighter in all of both Kraiven and the Basenjis, not mission was too difficult and no sacrifice was too great for him. While he wasn't about hold out hope that Sebas would finally see him as something more than a friend, this was beyond some act to try and impress him. This was Ash, this was Laylah, this was Lostro, this was his own name and reputation on the line

The resident Ash was passed out drunk, her mind filled with hazy thoughts of loot, glory, her men, and a child she failed to protect, the child she took in after the tragedy that befell her and her now late husband. After spending perhaps way too much time in seeking redemption, before she could ever even attempt to move forward to the final stages of what she felt was her life's purpose, she was ready to take a kuma step forward. Baby Bear, as amazing as he was, just didn't fill the void she was missing. It didn't alleviate any regret she felt. She had made peace with what she needed to do. Now like always, it was time to put an axe in the skull of this issue. Her husband's blade thirsted for the blood of that which grieved her, and Mama Bear wanted nothing more than her cub's safety and sanctity. Every snore than came from the mouth of this viking filled her faithful familiar's head with that much more anticipation. Baby Bear taught her recklessness. Hopefully she had taught Ashlynn a bit of restraint and forethought, because if she didn't have it here, what would become of them as Mama Bear and Cub Master? Or Mama Summoner and Cub Familiar?


-----------------------------------------------------

OOC Notes​

I feel like I built this up as far as I could take some of this, or at least built up how important this fight is gonna be. This has been far and away the longest post I've ever written on this website, and hopefully the length will explain how long it took. I thank you for sticking with me this far. This has been the build-up, set-up, and emotional aspect of this. The rest of this Kraiven Arc and Mozreliun Fight will be more action

I will admit that maybe there could've had more development on certain characters but that is all in retrospect. I simply cannot go any further with the development of build-up. It is time to execute this and end this (to be frank) what feels like a SAGA of an arc so far. Or maybe it's all in how long it took to make it this far (in real life)

From here, you can either wrap up your characters if you haven't yet or you can move it to the morning of, with them just waking up. I will leave it to you.
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Spoiler: Sharing Drinks and Woes

The duo would be taking part in the festivities as well. Fergie promised him drinks, and no pressing battle was going to stop her from delivering. Stopped them from getting knocked on their asses this night at least, but for Fergie, she didn't have to drink far past half a tankard before getting loose lips.
"Yer a bad liar, hope ye know."
Bogrum just looked at her with questioning eyes. He almost didn't hear her over the hollering of this lot, her muted words cuing him in that what followed was to be kept quiet.
"'Bonds we share', he says." She was shaking her head. "Bullshit. What bonds? Last I checked, haven't seen ye tailin' the arse of any other poor soul here."
"This about what I said in the sickbay?" he asked, making sure he understood. "I wasn't lying. You pirates are authentic, and I like that."
"'You pirates'." Despite being seated much lower than him, she stared him down like a scolding officer would. "Ye admit it right there. Ye ain't one of us." She set her drink down, gesticulating with her freed hand. "Ye hate killin'. Ye hate death. Yet here ye are. Why? Ain't for the gold or glory. Ain't for the crew. Sure as hell ain't for Adonis, or Sebas, or even that Naka ye keep makin' eyes at-- don't act like I can't tell, it's stupid obvious."
He scoffed into his mug. "You expect me to not admire? The woman carries a presence any man would envy." And his mug stayed there for a while. At first she thought it was to hide the look on his face, but when he finished chugging the rest of it down, she knew it was instead to prepare himself.
"What I'm gettin' at is..." When he looked back down, he saw her arms crossed tightly on the table and pressing into her chest. "It better not be for me. I ain't that interesting."

"It is. And isn't." Bogrum set his cup down and away, arms folding loosely. "I know you saw... something bad. Down in Megalo's caves." He'd tried to avoid learning exactly what. It had to do with the Triton child wandering aboard this pirate ship, which fed his imagination enough. "I could tell it was eating away at you, and it didn't look like you were seeking help."
Her arms crossed tighter, brows furrowing deeper. "I didn't ask for yer help."
"Well, you needed someone's help." He brushed off her brusque ingratitude. "If mine was all you could get, then so be it."
"You--" She huffed, leaning back to sink her head over her arms. "Didn't have to."
"Just like you didn't have to save me and my crew at the risk of your own life," he said, a smug grin displaying his tusks. "Maybe don't look so sad in front of me, and this won't happen."
Not even a scrap of snark was returned over the words flung back in her face. Bogrum's own mirth dulled, gaze casting away to the celebrating crowd around them. "I made my peace with what remained of my crew. There was nothing else to say." Eyes lowered to his left hand, ignoring the mild jittering when he squeezed and loosened his fingers. "I lost everything I owned. Including what I took with me when I left my tribe." It had all been confiscated by the prison warden, probably discarded and left to rot in the brine. Nothing magical, useless trinkets to anyone but him. "I had nothing but my memories. So... I guess you reminded me of someone from back home." And someone he knew he would never see again. Not in this life, or any other. "There's comfort in familiarity, I suppose. And I needed any comfort I could get."

When he turned back, Fergie's head had raised from its nest, intent eyes boring into him. "'Needed'?"
After a long pause, he smiled, motioning at her neglected cup. "Your turn. What keeps you here, when you have unfinished business with you-know-who?"
She followed his hand, disinterested in the drink but taking it anyway. "Payin' me dues."
He watched her try and fail to emulate how he finished his drink in one breathless chug before asking, "You mean the Favors? Would've thought using it to ensure a payload would discount it."
"That's Adonis for ye," she said between coughs, booze drying her already parched throat. "Aft' this mission, I'll fuck off at the next stop to Andouphe. Don't follow me, 'r else."
"You'll kill me and make it look like an accident?" he chanced.
"Nah. Can't promise someone else won't. Can promise it won't look like no accident."
If she was trying to deter him with the danger of her predicament, it wasn't working. "You can ask for help, you know."
"No thanks."
"Not even after all the times you risked your life for us? Why can't we return the--"
"BOGRUM." Her clenching hand slammed the mug down, beads of grog dotting around the table. "This is me own problem. Mine. That I created. Ain't draggin' no one into this."
Glaring into her rippling drink, Fergie was tense all over, radiating with anxiety. His warning words did nothing to alleviate it. "I can't promise we'll give you the option."
Fergie had only one thing to say to that...

"Assuming We Survive This"

Under the first starry night in 200 years, few in Kraiven would be getting any decent sleep. Nancy, who didn't often get decent sleep, was lucky to get any at all. And since he got to hear Nellie blink in his crystal after midnight, it was safe to assume she was getting little rest herself. Grateful for every moment they had, Nancy found it a double-edged sword, as it was getting harder to keep quiet about the fate of the Lungborne. Even though she had no desire to return to the Springs, he knew she wouldn't take this sordid news well. Her view of Goddess Marianna was shaky enough as it was... and she didn't need anything to shatter what stood. Yet, a pang of guilt clenched his stomach. Nellie deserved to know, and every second that passed without telling her felt like a disservice to her. But if he did, there would be questions that he couldn't answer. He didn't know WHY Goddess Marianna cut the umbilical, why she had retreated to "The Deepest Deeps", and the Angels were surely too busy preparing the Church to spare him an explanation. If he didn't even know why, she was better off not knowing at all, as she would draw her own conclusions and assume the worst.

"Will you be staying with the Guild?" he asked instead, once they were spared a moment for conversation.
"Will you?"
"I... don't know," he admitted. "I guess it's kind of early to be asking this, but I can't stop thinking about what's out there. How different everything will be. I'm not ready for it."
"We won't have a choice," she told him. "I doubt the King will send us back to the Spirit Sea after this. Kraiven might not even be inhabitable. We can't ignore the world as it is now."
"I don't want to ignore it. I just... I don't know. I shouldn't even be thinking about it right now."
Where he expected cold agreement, he was instead answered, "I keep thinking about it too. I don't think anyone knows what to do right now." She paused, and when he didn't fill in the silence, she said, "You are right, though. We won't figure it out until this is over."
Nancy had Goddess Marianna's reassurance to still his doubts, but one thing was still left unsaid....


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Spoiler: The Church, Purified

The night was chaotic down at the Convent. Elaina, Mariah, and the angels set themselves to work on the corruption in the Church. On one hand, the clergy weren't allowed to sleep. On the other, the presence of the angels naturally energized them, slowing down them getting fatigued and sleepy. Elaina and Mariah got vials of strong Holy Water to re-activate the angelic Words of Power to slow the creeping Blight. The corruption in this corridor ran deep, and every room had some of these Blighted Children. These children weren't evil or demonic. They were sick. Baths of Holy Water were drawn for them to soak in, and for a lot of them, it eventually cured their Blighted condition. However, there was some of them who the soak didn't help, or at least didn't help to the desired degree. For these, Laylah had to take it upon herself to cure it

A few of them died from the procedure, too Blighted to withstand Laylah's Order. It was a tragic scene, and Mariah's eyes were almost bloodshot from all the crying, holding the children dead from the Blight. Her heart was split in 2: Extremely happy at who was alive, yet that second half broke more and more at seeing the children she was so familiar with dead. Grey skinned, glazed over red eyes, not even bleeding blood anymore. Coughing up what could only be visually akin to black tar. Saying not a word as the Blight had consumed their voice box

All the while, Evangeline conducted her investigation of the Church at large, and a grim conclusion was drawn:

The Church was where they fought the Blight, and it came from attempting to bring the dead back to life without Holy Magic or Necromancy. It was Spirit Magic. It was essentially like using an unhealthy heart for a heart transplant. The Blighted were festering with the sickness, and had to come to the Church to alleviate effects. With no connection to Holy/Dark, the only other way to reduce the blight was to transfer it, taking it into themselves

It was taking on someone else's sickness, and the Church made a business out of it. So who were the Blighted? The Blight started when Kraiven started bringing the dead to life after the connection to the Gods were severed. Devoid of Holy Magic and Necromancy, they were forced to try and circumvent it by shoving the unpurified soul back into the body, thus Blighting the body.

Where did the maliciousness come in? "Ho?" Evangeline stood over the Head Priest, blade in hand and fury resonating hard. "Orphans? So the children without parents or who lost their parents were used to take on the Blight for the business you ran in this Church. Is that what I just heard?"
"No! It wasn't like that!"
Evangeline sensed a lie. She picked him up by his hair and held him up with 1 hand. "That is EXACTLY what this was. You preyed on the innocent and used them to take on the Blight, then killed the nuns who discovered it or who started having misgivings." Even if the bodies were long dead, rotting was immensely slow. You made a bad decision in going beyond your capabilities as Their Blessed Clergy, and instead of taking accountability or even just accepting that your holy magic had run out, you used children being cared for by actually faithful nuns to take on the Blight so you don't have to." Her fury didn't dissipate. It condensed into her hands and soon she was holding a screaming Head Priest engulfed in Holy Fire. "Your actions deserve nothing less than punishment. Through this Ordination of Fire, you will burn to death on Earth, you will meet the God you serve and take His punishment, and then you will burn for eternity in hell." Evangeline made these flames as strong as possible, yet made the time to kill INCREDIBLY high. He would be burning for quite a while.

She then looked upon the rest who were gathered. "All of you knew about this yet said nothing. You can go with him." As she left the room, it echoed with the anguished burning screams of clergymen. "My Goddess, I hope I have accomplished Your will." she said, her face contorted in glee at the screams of the soon to be damned. It was music to her ears.


The Church by the time the sun cracked the horizon anew, was purged of Blight. The Blighted Children, the uncured ones required treatment. They could be cured. "Elaina. Mariah. I have to treat you both as well." Laylah said, wiping the sweat off her brow. "Make this report to Sebas: The Church will be made holy again by the time we begin the ritual. After this fight, I will stick here to ensure that it is purged from the entirety of Kraiven."

------------------------------------------------------

Vespera Marine Seyres
Toron Ourskirts- Vespera's House​

Ves didn't require sleep, being a vampire and all. Instead, she spent all night planning the defense of Toron. She was in charge of leading the troops within the city, while Arnold was to be at the main gates with the bulk, trying to keep them from entering there. A shudder came over her, a dreaded feeling that she hated: The Church was holy again. It was great news! It really was, and she was sure Nancy would feel the same. However, it was hard to feel joy at a place that would now again burn her if she stepped foot in it. Still, it was gonna be useful for this. Despite being a creature of Darkness herself, it wasn't like she sided with demons. Bad was bad. It was just a shame that, say, a pulse of Holy Magic came from that church with the intent of ridding any and all creatures of Darkness from Kraiven. She would be wiped out alongside them, after everything she's done for this city.

No amount of good you did helped if people saw your very existence as an inherent negative at the onset. Hell, there were enemy soldiers here to destroy this capital city that were killed, brought back to life in the Null Realm, and then accepted in people..........and some of those people STILL haven't accepted her. They would rather accept a soldier of a RAIDING NATION here to kill you than accept a peaceful vampire just trying to deliver packages. Now she was lumped in with this demon, would be lumped in with this fight, and treated with suspicion as if she hadn't been on the same floating rock as them these past 200 years, and very likely was the one who, if they had messages and packages to deliver, she was more than likely the one who delivered it

She got changed into her battle gear, light leather armor, strapped her baton and her Everquench Canteen to her waist, grabbed her courier bag, and made her way to the Stoneroses HQ from her house


An enraged Angel

Outside the Church were a crowd gathered, all on their knees, and an angel standing above them at the top of the stairs with charred corpses. Swallowing in nervousness, Ves peered closer.
"The clergy within Kraiven have been hiding a secret," the angel declared, "CHILDREN! Taken from the orphanages and used to take on the Blight. What is the Blight? Well..........How about you ask yourselves why you are here in a perfectly good kingdom after this place was battered by war? Does it really make sense?" This angel gave off the air of menace. She was enjoying what she was saying. This must be that evil one Nancy talked about, the one with the sword. "Nightmares of the horrors of war, loved ones killed. Brought back to life? In a Godless Realm, eh? Have any of you EVER!!....." She shrieked that last word, ".....questioned a God-loving thing about this GODLESS ROCK that was floating in a godless REALM?!" Being a creature of darkness, Ves never questioned anything like this before.

"How many of you are alive? How many of you are Blighted?" Her words sounded of fire and brimstone, and it came off like this angel REALLY wanted to kill these people. "The children in this Church raised by those undisciplined nuns were taken and forced to feast on Blight......." she was spitting these words, verbally flinging them like an enraged woman throwing a shoe across the room. ".......so the wretches at the top of this city's clergy didn't have to do it. They just raked in the praise and adoration you fools threw at them like the false idols you made them." Vespera didn't know what the hell this angel was talking about, but the fury was genuine as reflected in how bloodshot they were. "Nuns going missing? No one asks. Children in the orphanage go missing? Small area, everybody knows everybody, right? No one asks. Problems fester, no one knows anything. Walk in, give praise. Leave and go back to the undisciplined degenerate lifestyle that fuels that festering ignorance. Your Church created this problem, and sacrificed children to solve it. Then just because these children are orphans, some from the war for YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY!!!......." She was heaving at this point, and trembling.
"Evangeline........." The other angel moved behind her, putting a stop to her riled up rant. "That's enough," she said, putting her hand on Evangeline's back. "I have my own anger. You punished the deserving guilty. That is enough."

"I.......I don't know how you deal with this Laylah........"
"Now you understand what we do as Guardians, Evangeline. We clean up the mess. You punish the ones who made it........" From there, that angel just kind of broke down, with the calm one hugging her. From what Ves heard, it was BAD what happened in that Church. No wonder she could step foot in there. Angels couldn't lie, and since the other wasn't attempting to correct, it must be the truth. She couldn't go near it, but Nancy was gonna come here soon. Ves was one of the ones who questioned the disappearance of children.........but when you were a creature of darkness, you weren't gonna be made privy to information about the holy
"Everyone move along!" one of the nuns yelled out, standing beside a woman with a beautiful winged Pegasus, who moved the horse in place to block the view of the angels. That was one of the people Nancy pointed out, the one who actually kept Evangeline from killing him. "We must get ready for the defense! We have found something disturbing in this Church and it was caused many problems, but it has been made a holy place once again." That much was undeniable, as Ves could feel the holiness from afar. "Move along! Get ready to fight or defend yourself! When the time comes, this Church will be used as refuge. Take the bodies of these corrupt smited priests with you."

Ves moved her feet over to Stoneroses HQ to find Nancy. There was a good chance word has been spread about corrupted clergy being punished for heinous misdeeds regarding children from the orphanage connected to the Church. Maybe he got a good version of the story. Maybe he got some twisted version of it. Regardless, the Church was holy again and the clergy structure upended entirely

"Nancy!" A nervous wreck, Nancy was definitely awake. No way on this day of all days this Locathah was fast asleep. "Nancy! We gotta get to the Church!" If Goddess Marianna kept him well-informed, he'd have a dream about it. If she left him to his own devices, he'd find out in person.


--------------------------------------------

Sebas Deadeye
Dreaming.............​

Spoiler: A Commune With the Trench

Boom-Boom
With the muffled sound of water in the ears, all he could heart was his own heartbeat and flowing water
Boom-Boom
Nothing but the black of the.........Deep? The Abyss? The Deepest Deep? The Abyss. Right, if you looked around and saw nothing but black, you had to be in the Abyss, since the Deep still had vision from the sunlight from above. That didn't tell him where he was though. Was down up? Was up down? How was he oriented? Sebas resolved himself to swim until it got colder. If it got warmer, it meant sunlight, hence the Deep rather than the Deepest Deep

It took only 2 tries. He swam what felt like diagonal from his position. Even if he were traversing generally linear, it could only eventually take him warmer or colder by the temperature. Soon, he found it. Guessing incorrectly, he flipped direction
"mpmpm..........."
The voice was muffled, so while he could hear it, it was indecipherable. So while he didn't ignore the voice, it wasn't actionable information. so he kept on swimming
"mppmpmmpa........"
What?
"........pa!" He could hear it now and the direction
"PAPA!" Orabelle came into view, and so did the vast darkness. Well, more like the water became as visible as if he were wearing goggles in a swimming pool. "Are you here to commune with Goddess Marianna as well?"
He really wasn't, but it was established at this point that he doesn't reach out to Her unless it's Orabelle-related. Marianna reaches out to him the other 99% of the time. "Yeah, it seems like Marianna wants me to talk to Her."
"Goddess Marianna," she corrected, something she was used to doing at this point. Her Papa was kind of daft about it. "but I bet She's concerned," Ora responded. "We will need Her Blessing more than ever, Papa."
"Aye. Let's go see the Goddess." Sebas took Orabelle's hand and the duo swam down until the Oppressive Darkness overtook their vision. Not knowing where they were going, they kept moving down and down and down, until finally a small flickering light revealed itself in the midnight waters. There was Her light. It was time to commune. What wisdom would She impart on them?

.........Command Wing- Sebas's Quarters​

A hefty heart before a hefty fight

Sebas woke up early that morning to a report from Elaina telling him that their mission was complete. Blight was purged from the Church, but it seemed like the Blight was gonna be pervasive across Kraiven. He spent a good amount of time hanging with Lostro, until he received word that Ora had come back after completing her mission with Chilby. From Ora's recount of the journey, he was glad he wasn't gonna be making penguin steaks out of that Chiloonie. Chilby had earned his way onto the Canine. He'd send some other schmuck to slave in the Basenji Engine Room. Here, Chilby could work on a rotation shift, or do something else entirely as needed.

Sitting up in his bed, he eyed his daughter's Holy Water Tank where she slept, glowing from the holiness within the waters. As usual, she looked serene as she slept and this day of all days, he felt bad as he knew he'd have to wake her up. Not only wake her up early, but wake her up knowing that for the first time since she came into his life, that her life was about to be put in actual danger. Yeah, he cared about what that meant for him and his life, but the bigger thing was how traumatic this could end up being. It was why he allowed her to go on that mission with Chilby. It would keep her away from all this. She just exceeded his expectations, which was more sweet than bitter of course, but it also put an additional workload on her because after working hard, she'd have to work HARDER this time.
No breaks, yet no complaints even when the fatigue showed in every inch of her existence last night. She was just happy to get it done, happy for the experience, happy to tell him about it, and then happy to get to sleep so she can be happy when they finally liberated Lostro.

Speaking of Lostro, he had to have a conversation last night regarding the issue with Duradel, and while he was alarmed at Lostro getting more defiant with Mozza in her system, he wasn't worried about that aspect because Mozza was leaving her soon. Still, he had to scold her and it was always then that she tended to lose her will to fight. It hit her worse since this was about time for him to go receive Orabelle. The abandonment issues were still there and she perceived him as abandoning her for Orabelle. The tears were still hard as ever to see, and it was in these appeasement moments to him that Mozza could never beat, and so with that the curse was rescinded again. However, It was a problem for future Sebas, the comparison between sisters. It was about time to secure that future

Sebas stood up, shaved and got dressed. He put on his battle gear and grabbed his blade. His trusty Shark Fin. Duradel had worked on his shotgun, and it better be complete.

Orabelle Alahala
Command Wing- Sebas's Quarters​

Knock-Knock-Knock
The girl's eyes opened and she yawned a bubbly one. Slight soreness in her shoulders from swinging her staff so much, but at least her feet pain from walking so much was gone. She was ravenously starving right now and the buffet of fish she ate last night felt like a small kelp salad. Using magic burned so many more calories in children (lesser control over their magic in general) and she felt the hunger-induced stomachache. Besides that though, she had only the Holy Water that made up her tank to thank for why she wasn't deathly sore and why she never had nightmares. It put her in a deep comfortable muscle-relaxing sleep every time. That Everquench Canteen seemed more and more like a blessing from Goddess Marianna herself.

Her eyes finally focused to see her Papa as the usual culprit for knocking on her tank. Her mornings were typically the same. He knocks on her tank to wake her up, she swims up and with his assistance, gets out of the tank. From there she dries herself and her hair (an instant job for someone who uses water magic) or she gets Sebas to dry her hair (it takes longer, but she enjoyed the extra time). From there, she'd always try to get Sebas to brush and style her hair, rarely succeed in the latter, and when they were both ready, it was time to go to breakfast.

This morning was mostly the same, except that Sebas was more willing to do everything she asked. He helped her dry, something he stopped doing after he taught her the concept, helped her get dressed, dried, brushed AND styled her hair. Yeah it was kind of sloppy, but after a few tries, he got a good enough attempt to where she then just tightened it behind his back without undoing his version. It always felt different when he did it for her, and it showed that how she saw him was different than how he had to be around these rough people

All dressed and ready to go! "Before we head out to breakfast, I need to get my shotgun from Duradel."
Ah, she did wonder why he didn't have his gun. "I thought you hated when Dura touched your stuff." She actually kind of liked Mr. Dura. He was a pretty funny guy, despite Sebas always calling him annoying.
"I do, but remember what I told you about Lostro cursing him again?" It was grim news. Ora was mortified the first time, and she had to scold Sebas for telling Lostro to do it. To hear Lostro did it again behind his back was worse.
"Did she uncurse him?"
"That's what I'm going there to ensure."
"I hope she did, and I hope Dura is alright," she said, her voice full of concern. Curses were nothing to play around with, and coming from someone like Lostro, they were absolutely terrifying. The curse she put on Duradel the first time could be felt across the entire ship



It was time to sound the alarm and wake the hell up, and it did. The wakeup alarm sounded across all 3 ships, a coordinated wakeup call. Just like that, it was the signal that today was the day
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

Indeed, Nancy was already out in the lobby waiting for his friend and escort. "I'm ready," he answered, rising from his seat and slinging a bag laden with potions over his shoulder. "I don't know how much help these will be, but I figured I shouldn't come empty-handed." With the presence of Angels, the clergy was surely more energized than they'd been in centuries, but he wasn't about expect them to shoulder everyone's needs. Most were fatigue and magic replenishing potions, but he had a few health and speed ones to prepare for the worst, as well as some ingredients handy in case he needed to craft something in a pinch. It was a shame he hadn't access to Holy Water to boost his potions, but with the Church up again, that shortage would be a thing of the past. Maybe he would be stationed in their alchemy lab if they had one, since he didn't expect they'd want him sitting around while the Coin did all the work.

He'd spent the restless hours of his night prepping and organizing his inventory; and given by the bags under his eyes, most of those hours had been restless. For the hours he had slept, they were enough to prepare him for what was to come. Sensing Goddess Marianna's presence, his mind had been soothed, worries kept submerged under the subconscious. But to keep this delicate peace in his mind, he'd been told little of the disaster that had been discovered at the Church. Otherwise, his dreams would have become nightmarish and feverish, visions of corrupt clergy and Blighted children waking him up in cold sweat and tears. Goddess Marianna wouldn't have to show him these things for his anxious mind to conjure them on its own.

All he had suspicion of was that there had been some sort of hold up in restoring the Church to Holy Grounds, confirmed by word that had spread into the Stoneroses HQ. "So they're ready, now? I heard something bad happened, but is everyone okay?"

Fergie​

Spoiler: Contemplation on the Deck

From a mix of nerves and her typical early-bird schedule, Fergie was up and about long before the bell rang. After cleaning herself up and strapping her gear on, she passed the time by patrolling the upper deck of the Canine. It was a needless excuse to gaze over at that hunk of rock floating under the ships. A swash of brilliant green surrounding dots of settlements, and of course that sprawling stone city that marked the capital, she knew it wouldn't look like this for much longer. Something bit at her worse than her lingering hangover, gnawing her gut rather than her brain.

Thank gods for Demi and Sebas. Apparently the beastmaster lass had something to do with the change in plans, and their captain had the will to enact it. For that, she was thankful. Thankful that those lands below would be scarred in a battle to kill a demon, rather than in cannon fire. Thankful that forests and livelihoods would be burned down for a reasonable cause, rather than to line the coffers of some pirates' pockets.

And Fergie was some pirate. A nasty, selfish bastard, just like any other. She wouldn't dare to pretend otherwise. But there was a reason she was a pirate, a seafaring delinquent, rather than some land-striding marauder. When your battles only disturbed the fish just below the sea surface, their great inconvenience was to swim out of the way of sinking cannon balls, lethality dampened after hitting water. But when your battles engulfed the land, it wasn't just your enemies taking the hits. Almost-innocent folk who's wrongdoings were minuscule in the faces of thieves and murderers, and actually innocent plants and animals who couldn't conceive right from wrong, were always caught in the crossfire. There was a reason why she hated the port raids the Ballast Commodore had set out. There was a reason why she hated her.

She could pretend all she wanted, but she couldn't lie to herself that there lingered some fragment of a conscience within her damnable soul. And fuck you for draggin' Bogrum into this. He was annoying not just in that he wouldn't leave her the fuck alone, but he reminded her of what she didn't care to remember in herself. Altruism got you killed out here. And if you were a tough nut despite your idealism, clinging to those ideals would kill your sanity. The "gentleman pirate" wasn't exactly a myth, but it wasn't what the stories made it out to be. You couldn't make good choices in this life. Just the lesser of evils, just like they were having to do now.

Whatever life Bogrum had prior, he certainly wasn't a stranger to choosing lesser evils. But it was taking a toll on him regardless. What does that say about you?

Fergie had stopped her pacing, staring down the land that would soon become a hapless victim. Do what ye must. Or die.

The Day Begins

At the sounded alarm, the ship filled up with thudding footsteps and shouting voices faster than on most days. Likewise, Fergie didn't spare an idle moment. Gauging the direction of the lichen piece she gave him, she could tell Bogrum was still in the Command Wing. Sleeping until the alarm woke him, which explained why he wasn't up early to bother her. Good. He needed to stop trying to take care of her, and take care of himself for a change.

She was antsy to complete her main task before battle, to conduct a final inspection of her troops, but that wasn't happening until after they all had breakfast. Egh. Not hungry. Right before a grueling fight was a bad time to listen to what her stupid body tried to tell her. Maybe Bogrum had a point when he said she looked "gaunt". Or he was just freaked out to see a skinny person after watching everyone waste away in the Pockets. Gods forbid she not have huge, heaving muscles like him.

Since the Mess Hall was in the Crew Wing anyway, she figured she might as well give everyone passing by a quick look over on the way there. Not to make sure they were ready to step on the battlefield, just to ensure they were well-rested after last night's feast.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Vespera Marine Seyres
Stoneroses HQ​

Ves eyed Nancy's gear. "That will do. I don't foresee you needing any more than you have." If Nancy needed a health potion or a speed potion, that Coin was gonna activate very soon. As a Locathah on land, if he ever had to RUN, he was about to die. Water-dwellers weren't exactly biologically built to be walking on land, let alone running for their lives.

Ves's eyes looked dead serious as she confirmed his suspicions. "There were charred corpses at the front of the Church, done so by the Angels." she told him grimly. "Dr. Laylah the Guardian and Evangeline the Enforcer restored the Church along with that woman with the Pegasus Unicorn (Alicorn). I guess it entailed punishment for those who Blighted those Children." She still didn't know what Blight even was, but it sounded like a disease. A disease that people in Kraiven were infected with, and a disease that, since no one knew about, it meant they were told to keep it a secret. "Evangeline is angry and sorrowful. Whatever she witnessed, it kind of broke her a little." That would say a lot, given that Evangeline is ridiculously prideful. "Apparently they made a bit of a business of fighting the Blight by using children in the Orphanage connected to the Church." It was things like this made her glad to be a creature of darkness. If that horrendous occurrence was considered "holy", it only proved to her that holy didn't necessarily mean "good." THAT, to her, was evil. Then again, if done in the Null Realm, it means that even if she considers it evil, she couldn't exactly attach it to the gods they serve. Not that it was ever her intent in the first place but............when your very existence was deemed evil by some, it felt a bit vindicating that the values they invoked to say that seemed just as flawed.

"From what I've heard, it was Clergy Leadership that got burned," she continued, "They had a nun with them, so it couldn't be all of them. Regardless, prepare to work with the Church." It was gonna be a doozy for them. Overnight, they've had to upend the clergy right before this important defense of the capital city. This all but confirmed to Ves at least that an angel would be taking over the defense. "I of course will not be joining you, but we will have GP at the ready. While his top priority is you, he will be assisting in getting injured to safety and healing." They didn't have an evacuation plan. Yeah, there were other cities, but with only a night to prepare, evacuation wasn't gonna happen. Plus, if Mozreliun were to siege them while evacuating, everyone moving would be killed. "Let's move. It's almost time, and your presence will be vital." With that, the duo stepped off for the last time they'd be seeing each other. Next time they see each other? They'd either be hugging each other or one of them would be burying the other. "Steel yourself," Ves warned, "Those charred corpses may still be there."


------------------------------------------------------------

Ashlynn Thormdottir
Crew Wing- Mess Hall​

The troops were up and moving, going from 0-100 when the alarm sounded, and kept at 100 by Ash barking orders for them to move faster, eat faster, no alcohol, tie those boots up. She wasn't up much before the alarm. Maybe 10 minutes or so to get herself ready. Standard Operating Procedure for the energetic viking woman. She had done the inspections of their weapons and attire the other day. Unless they changed something in that span of time, their blades were sharp and their clothes not in tatters. There was no time for a second inspection. If you didn't have it, god-speed because you were probably gonna die.

She herself was feeling fine. Each troop was given a Sobering Potion, which basically just doubled the rate of metabolizing alcohol. In other words, alcohol got out of your system at double the speed. This just made them sober up AND go through their hangovers quicker so that they were all good now. These potions were rarely ever given out and expensive to buy. These circumstances just weren't the circumstances to be thinking of short-changing the crew. They needed them good to go so this kind of exception only ever happens before big battles like this one.

Her place was solidified on the battlefield as part of Evangeline's Troops, one of the lower leaders. For that, Ash was grateful. It would make fighting in the vanguard a whole lot easier as it meant effectively all of their weapons were holy weapons. As the leader of the vanguard, there was honestly no better fit for this fight than the Enforcer herself. Then there was Damond who was terrifying to behold on the field. Very few could beat her and Mama Bear together. Damond not only could, but could do so fairly easy. Most of these enemies would be sweatless work for the Werewolf, so he was probably looking for some big game to hunt. Evangeline providing the enchants to fight and holy aggression, Damond providing the bloodlust. This was what she was born for. She was about to go all out.
"Don't get too excited, my cub." Mama Bear grumbled from beside her, "If you trigger Papa Bear early, you're done for." Papa Bear. The penultimate skill that embodies the top of the bear chain as well as her late husband. Mama Bear disappears and turns Ash into a berserker. Long story short, if she activates the skill, she will end up in a state similar to that of a magic coma (comatose state due to overshooting how much mana you use.) Until then, anything and everything she identified as an enemy was getting decimated with a speed and aggression to destroy half a crew. It puts Ash in such a dark place that even Mama Bear wonders if it'll have mental ramifications for someone as brash as Ash

Thinking about the layout of the leaders, she knew that between Avery and Fergie, only one of them would suggest a double spear offensive

"Yo, Fergie!" Ash called as Fergie made her way into the Mess Hall and approached her with a shit-eating grin on her face. "Gotta say, didn't know you were walking the path of Ol' Goldilocks here. Thought Bogrum was definitely on his way to making you a square." Looking to decimate everything with the Vanguard? Leave only scraps for the reinforcements? "Evangeline and Damond? That's some prime-time Viking shit right there."
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

A cold shock froze his body at the mention of corpses-- charred corpses, at that-- then pierced him like one of Nellie's Ice Shards when Vespera explained why. "Children??" Nancy didn't have a full understanding of Blight, but he knew it meant something bad. Bad enough to entail angel interference. "I... I don't know what to think." He was staring off at the floor at his feet, sorrow and horror combating to be the dominant emotion. He'd heard about the missing children, but admittedly didn't think much of it. Not because he didn't care, or because he refused to believe the clergy could fail their job. But, well... they were orphans. Children who felt they had no place. Nancy had assumed they ran away to find somewhere that felt more like home, rather than a church that had no choice but to take them in.

Given Evangeline's status as an Enforcer, and her apparent bloodlust, it could be assumed she was responsible for those corpses Vespera saw. But by her description, there was little joy to be derived in the face of abused children, apparently even for the angel. She had stared him down with glee at the prospect of cutting him down, simply for possessing a Dark Magic badge. To think of her breaking down in tears over this tragedy... perhaps the hatred in her heart was for a reason. Nancy would reserve his judgements.

The time to mourn wasn't now, though. And this posed another issue of who would be leading the Church after it had been cleansed. He could assume one of the angels would take that role temporarily, but if it had been the ENTIRE leadership like Ves had said, this was going to pose difficult for the rest of the nunnery. None of this was up to him, but it still made him worry. But better to upend the place in order to purify it, than to have the Church attempting to fight a demon when the Gods themselves would refuse to Bless it.

At Vespera's warning, Nancy did steel himself. As well as to swallow down the swill of emotions all of this made him feel. This gave him the same feeling he had when the two had separated at the river. They'll see each other after victory, or never again. Tears again threatened to pool in his eyes, but he wouldn't allow it. "I'll be okay, Ves. We'll be okay." It was more to assure her that he could do this. Whatever happened, he was going to play his part best he could.

Fergie​

Given that even in the bustling Mess Hall the loudest thing that pierced above it was Ash's voice, Fergie knew what she was about to be in for. Her enthusiasm was impossibly infectious, and Fergie couldn't help but mirror her grin when she approached. "Ah, shit. Here's Double Trouble." Said grin wavered at the mention of Bogrum. Took her a moment to remember what "square" meant in this context, which then turned into spiraling thoughts of why it was said at all. Sebas had said something similar during the Golden Gun raid, that he was glad Bogrum hadn't made her "high and mighty". She wasn't sure where this all was coming from. The man had his reservations, yes, but he never imposed them on anyone of the crew. And he clearly hadn't enough qualms with killing to stop him from being a raid captain.

An indignant urge to defend him was fanned out by a string of self-reassurances. They respected Bogrum.
They respect the RANK, not--
He was a bit different from your typical pirate, so he course he was going to be teased for it a bit.
Folks don't take well to "different"--
This crew was made up of every creed you could fathom. Even happy-go-lucky Demi was being trusted with a major lead.
Do they know why he's...?
One of the crew favorites was a rigid pacifist. Even if Bogrum decided to take it that far, it wasn't like they'd hate him for it.

All she would show Ash of this was a shrug of her shoulders, as much to loosen their tension as to convey indifference. "Eh. He's alright. Hasn't tried to make a stick-in-the-mud outta me yet." Her hands were on her hips, smugness finding a place in her words. "Not that he could. Can take a pirate outta the fight, but can't take the fight outta the pirate, aye?"

Ash seemed impressed by her choice of strategy. Fergie was about to jest that her Gaelic ancestry might take issue with being compared to Nordic pillagers, but she reminded herself that SHE didn't have the ancestry. She grew up around people who did. Her ancestry was from a wandering goblin tribe and some outsider elf who couldn't be arsed to use protection. So Fergie opted with, "What is a Viking but a pirate?" They made a culture and lifestyle out of the hunt. It was THE way of life, rather than one of the few options society's refuse had. "No one knows how it's done better than ye, lass."

At least Ash was anticipating the battle. Fergie just wanted this shit over with quickly, hence her decision to come at this headfirst. Something as grim as taking down a world-ending demon sort of sucked the fun out of it. "Just don't get too beat up out there. Not 'fore I get the chance." Their little sparring session obviously wasn't happening today, but it was still on the agenda.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Vespera Marine Seyres
Church
​

The duo quickly made their way to the Church, with Ves's mind going a million miles a minute. Reality was setting in that this was about to happen all over again. Kraiven was about to become a battlefield. What was Blight? What was the power of this demon? Would their land even be habitable after this? Was their land habitable NOW? Why did the Church cover the Blight? How many people are Blighted? Ves was going to leave anyways, yet this made her want to leave NOW. Take a plunge off the edge of Kraiven and turn into a bat before she hit the water and died. She could do it. She would do it after this anyways. What's the difference?
She wanted the closure of knowing that her friends were safe before she left them. As much as she yearned to hug her parents again, see her brother again, see her sister aged into a fine woman, (scientifically older than her now given the time in the Null Realm), she couldn't just disappear like that. She had already done it when they went into the Spirit Sea, and who knows how much anguish it caused her parents? She didn't want to put that same load on her fishy friend or anyone else in the Stoneroses. She'd cull this demon, save Kraiven and then she'd leave.

They got close enough to the Church where Ves felt if she took another step forward, the itching she was feeling would start to burn. This Church was absolutely brimming with Holiness again, probably amplified by the Angels and it'll only get worse once Nancy enters with his Coin. The charred corpses were definitely there though, a gruesome sight to behold. The woman with the Alicorn was there, and she spotted the duo. "My Locathah specimen returns.........." She looked to Ves. "......With the vampire who owns the badge that almost got my Locathah specimen killed."
"My apologies," Ves responded sarcastically, fully on guard. "If I had known bloodthirsty angels were on the prowl for creatures of darkness, I wouldn't have given Nancy the badge in the first place." Sarcasm aside, Ves still felt legitimately guilty about that.
"Elaina Melora," she said, holding out her hand, "Count yourself lucky we found the Blight. You were exactly what we were hunting for." Ves would indeed count herself lucky. With that angel pining for blood and getting a taste judging by the vastly overcooked corpses on the stairs, if the Blight wasn't revealed, she'd have been found eventually.
Not wanting to shake her hand with these intruders, but also wanting to be at least cordial to the one who kept Nancy from being killed, Ves took the handshake reluctantly. "Vespera. I guess I can thank you for not killing me. How nice." Sarcasm dripped from her words like holy water dousing a blade
"Not nice. Just bigger fish to fry." She looked behind her. "Mariah!"
A nun came running forth. Sister Mariah was always kind to them and though she was always a bit weirded out by Nancy, she was never hostile towards either of them. That was more than she could say about most of the other nuns. "Yes, Lady Elaina."
"You're familiar with these two, right?"
This was rhetorical because everyone knew everyone in this city. "Yes, it's Vespera and Nancy."
"Good. You are now saddled with Nancy."
"Eh?!" Mariah was taken aback. "Why me?"
"Nancy boy here has a Coin from Goddess Mariana, and as a newly Primed Angel, you will be charged with his care." Primed Angel: Not quite an angel yet, but soon to be Ordained as one. This was her reward along with Irene for 200 years of discipline and faith
"But I can't fight!" Mariah resisted, "They're gonna make me a Watcher! Not an Enforcer!" Mariah was going to become an Angel?!
"Shut up complaining," Elaina snapped harshly, "You were given Holy Magic. Use it" By order of Goddess Mariana, Angels have to ensure safe passage of this Locathah. "We're NOT losing our angels for this. Evangeline is back on the ship. She's leading the troops and Laylah is our medic. That leaves you."
Mariah sighed. "Alright......." Crazy how easily pushed around Mariah was when it came to this Elaina woman. Mariah soon to become an angel didn't change that, and Elaina had no qualms about talking to her like that. "You don't have to be so mean. We just cured this whole Church together." she muttered.
"Sorry, but we don't have time for bickering," Elaina responded, seeming actually a little apologetic. "I don't think reality has set in that this place is about to become a battleground." Those words chilled Ves's bones. The way those were were just tossed out like that really brought reality crashing in. "Nancy, you'll be in the Church helping out. As for the vampire......"
"I didn't tell you my name to be referred to as 'Vampire'" Ves told her. Ves's inner animosity was starting to show. They shouldn't be here! "I can't be in there, I know. I'll start burning if I take so much as another step towards the Church."


------------------------------------------

Nakaos
Weapons Wing- Ship Weapons Hangar​

Spoiler: A Highly Efficient Crew

Nakaos was up not too long before the alarm rang. She had to go to the Basenji to grab the Laser Cannon. It had gotten a new modification: Now it took cartridges loaded with mana. Naka wasn't about to have Shamir explain the magic to her. The concepts around magic simply didn't register in her brain. She was a cyclops and it took her long enough to learn to read English (Common), let alone trying to comprehend the concepts of something as complex as magic. The cartridges for the Laser Cannon made the reload not only far faster, but it prevented the need for an entire team to reload it. The tradeoff was that it'd take longer to charge up each shot. One cartridge per shot, longer shot time, but now the thing could be wielded by a team of 2.........or one Cyclops Woman. As THE strongest person in the Basenjis in terms of raw strength, she had the strength to not only carry it, but withstand that exceedingly harsh recoil that would come from firing a devastatingly powerful laser. Naka didn't deal with guns as she lacked the dexterity to handle them. Plus, her strength tended to break the guns.

This behemoth of a weapon was different. Massive in stature, she knew that it would be best for her to wield it as a backup option. The Basenji was armed enough. The Canine needed it as it would be the ship providing closer air support. Hoisting the weapon on her shoulder, she walked out of her office to immediately be greeted by one of her foremen. Her lizardmen had a motto: The boss never wakes up the crew. If she were up, her men were up. The only time that changed were when Naka deliberately sought to get up before her men. A day like to today, but that effort failed by a long shot.

The Foreman that greeted her: If she weren't the leader of the Lizardmen, this one would be the leader, hence why he was one of the foremen. Her crew were all in groups discussing among themselves over their breakfast. "Boss! We have divided ourselves into teams. Here is the report."
Hmmmm...... "Naka has said many times," she corrected immediately. She was used to it at this point. "No boss. Naka is Naka." Naka wondered if this was a lizardman thing, a human thing that they adopted, or a pirate thing.
"Sorry bo-.....er" a throat clear and he proceeded to correct himself. "Apologies Naka. We have the report."
Naka nodded, her eye briefly shifting over to her crew who had quieted down to hear the report as well. "Go ahead."
The lizardman straightened up as he delivered his report. "We have 3 per cannon: 1 to fire, 1 to load, 1 targeteer." Targeteer: Handpicked by Naka, they were the smartest and most accurate firers. Naka took them and trained them in calculation, ballistics, and targeting. They'd adjust a shot after a fire to ensure precision. After missing shots in the Golden Guns Raid, Naka nipped the problem in the bud immediately. While she struggled with words, calculations and ballistics were something she took to fairly easily
"What else? Mortars?"
"Mortars: we have 4 per mortar: 1 to fire, 2 to load, 1 targeteer."
"Sounds good."
"Rockets: 5 per launcher: 1 to fire, 3 to load, 1 targeteer." Rockets came in clusters. This meant a long reload time. She might have to up the load team
That sounded like most of the crew. "What about substitutes and supply?"
"We have 10 for supply: 5 for cannons bottom-side, 5 for top-side. There will be 5 for substitutes." Hmm.......That sounded inefficient. There was no spread, which meant the teams would be stretched thin having to run back and forth. Plus, palettes of cannonballs were a 3-man carry
Naka corrected this discrepancy. "Put 3 on each side for cannon supply. The remaining 4 will be top-side for deck weapons." This meant 1 dedicated team per side to focus only on that side. "For our 5 substitutes: It will be a 1-for-1 swap, because that final 5 will be for Naka to utilize. We may need to deploy one of the other weapons." Weapons like the Drop Blade was a 9-man effort, reduced to 5 when it came to Lizardmen.........or 1 Cyclops Woman after drinking a Strength Potion. However, she was commanding the ship so that wasn't a go-to option
"Right, we will redivide the teams accordingly. What about the Foremen?"
Her Foremen were her delegates. There were only 3 of them "1 Foreman commanding the bottom. 1 commanding the top. 1 Co-Commander." She had trained the foremen in leading these weapons. Cross-trained on every weapon and qualified as Targeteers, the Foremen were well-respected as being as strong as they are skilled, the most well-rounded. "If that will be all, finish eating. Naka will return soon for final team inspection."
"BOMBARD!"
"And Destroy," Naka returned. Apparently a crew motto helped with morale. She had read that in one of those human books, and seen it in action with Ashlynn and her troops. While Naka didn't personally understand why, the lizardmen seemed to like it and that was enough for her. With a nod to her crew, Naka made her exit from the hangar.

Weapons Wing- Hallway

The Mono-bespectacled Cyclops walked out into the Weapons Wing Hallway looking for the report notes for the crew layout and maintenance notes. Deep in thought, she almost ran into Ship Captain Sebas, holding the hand of his little one and coming from the Armory. If she considered him tiny human, the little one was microscopic. "Ship Captain. My apologies." The little one was looking at her with a face of awe. Naka initially questioned why a human took in a.......fish(?) child, but she decided to not question much. She had never had an interaction with it. Naka was always fearful of mistakenly hurting non-giant/cyclops children. If she couldn't hold a gun without damaging it with her strength, best not try to hold a child.
"Hmm?" he seemed to not catch on to what she was apologizing for. "Oh, morning Naka." he said, "I've told you plenty of times though, you can drop the formalities. You're a leader. Address me as Sebas."
"..........." Naka closed her eye as her nose and cheeks started to burn a bit. While he held a polite smile and his words weren't malicious, how embarrassing to be corrected on the exact thing she corrected her crew on not 5 minutes ago. And to be corrected by the SHIP CAPTAIN. This was the first time Naka had been in this position. Her Lizardmen had started rubbing off on her. "........Sebas, Naka is aware that you may want Naka to address as equals. However, Naka asks that she honors title, as Ship Weapons Crew honors Naka's own title."
Sebas shrugged. "I understand. I won't press again." he responded without resistance. Maybe she overthought it. Maybe Naka should take the note to just let the lizardmen honor their title. "Is there something you needed?"
It took her a bit with bowing to finally re-capture her composure. "Aye, now that you're here," she said, business overshadowing her moment of embarrassment, "Naka has read over ship notes, and Naka has report to make on Ship Weapons as well as concerns as one who will commandeer The Canine."
Sebas nodded and thought for a second. "Orabelle, mind if Naka joins us for breakfast?"
"Come with us! I've never met a cyclops before. You're HUGE!" The eyes of awe captivated the cyclops, most likely without effort. Just pure genuine childish interest.
Her usual expressionless lips curved ever so slightly upwards. "Naka is happy to discuss Giants with Orabelle," she replied
"After business," Sebas clarified, looking at Ora
The child didn't miss a beat. "Just Ora is fine. Can I ride on your shoulders?" she asked, leaving her father to press her still.
The sudden question took Naka aback. It was so incredibly personal and informal, and that look of pure curiosity. It was never a question she had been asked before, but it was common in Giant tribes to carry children on the parents' shoulders. She had no choice but to give in. "Naka will escort you to Mess Hall." As formal as always, Naka kneeled to allow Ora to climb on her back. Again, if Naka held her, Naka might hurt her by mistake and, tiny human or not Ship Captain was, a bullet to her one and only eye was not something she would find pleasant. She could barely even feel Ora on her back.

A child on her shoulder and the nonchalant ship captain at her side, the trio stepped off to the Mess Hall. Her eye drifted over to Sebas. He was on special teams. Saving his other little one was why they were doing this, and his initiative has kept her from having to use White Phosphorus on innocent people. It made her wonder if there was some kind of inner turmoil, or if it was complete confidence. Until that was revealed though? What a child........ Naka thought.

Ashlynn Thormdottir
Crew Wing- Mess Hall​

Ash laughed at Fergie's comment on the fight. "Aye, I got Mama Bear watching my back. You watch that leg of yours." Fergie was still using that clunky one, and Ash wasn't about to fight her if she weren't at her prime. That wasn't how she rolled. "On a serious note, my men are ready. I'm ready. It's almost showtime and I'm ready to cleave."
Their conversation was interrupted as Sebas walked into the Mess Hall with Naka, who had Orabelle on her shoulder. It was rare enough to see Naka in the Mess Hall, let alone with a child. "Morning Sebas, Naka, Ora," she greeted. "I'm surprised to see the resident cyclops here though. What brings you here?"
"Good morning," she returned, "Naka is here to discuss ship strategy with Ship Captain." Ah, that explained it. Naka certainly wouldn't be coming here otherwise. She tended to eat with the lizardmen in the Ship Weapons Hangar
"As formal as ever." Ash said with a laugh. "We'll be watching the skies. Don't fire too close to home, eh?"
"Naka will advise all units before bombardment." Naka was never good with things like jokes and sarcasm. Giants in general were kind of bad with social situations, but that Naka tended to try was part of her charm. She looked absolutely awkward with Ora on her shoulder, clearly not used to any of this, and it was amusing to behold. As such, Ash reserved any teasing about it
"Let's order and talk," Sebas said, wasting no time. To all 3 women. "All units on the battlefield will be dropping in about an hour to get set." They had less time than she thought.
With that Sebas and Naka withdrew to their table. Ash looked to Fergie. "Eat quickly, Fergie. It's almost showtime." Ash then sped off, Mama Bear on her heels. She had to make sure any stragglers were kicked into high gear.
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

Nancy wasn't a stranger to gruesome sights, courtesy of the war prior. That didn't make the sight easier to stomach though, let alone the scent in his sensitive nose. He had to hold back a gag long before he saw the charred remains, the stench of death having permeated in the entire area since they were put on display like a burnt offering to the gods. It wasn't any sympathy for the damned that clenched his gut so; it was a grim forewarning, an acute reminder that he would likely see many more bodies than this after the battle.

The woman with her great white steed was a welcome distraction. An uncomfortable one is what it became as soon as she began talking. Nancy bit back a frown, appreciation for her attempt to save him keeping him from displaying disapproval so openly. Though he had to wonder how deserved it was, when she apparently still viewed him as a "specimen". Had he been spared simply to satisfy her curiosity?

Vespera was sparing no fragment of disdain, however. And with the way Elaina bossed around Sister Mariah, it was plain to see why. Nancy couldn't expect the pirates' business to not intermingle with their own off the frontlines, but watching them readily take the place of authority and domineer over THEIR people was chafing. At least it wasn't without reason, as the angels were needed elsewhere which left no authority to defer to in the Church. Elaina's brusqueness really didn't bother him so much here. Pre-war wasn't the time to shower pleasantries and politesse. But the principle of having to defer to someone who caused all of this made it hard to maintain neutrality.

The urge to feed into Ves's animosity was tempting, but Nancy fought it strong. That is, up until Elaina left her name out, after she had no issue addressing everyone else correctly. "Vespera has her orders," he said, barbels twitching in annoyance. Coin emboldening him or not, seeing his friend upset from being disrespected like this was enough to flatten any intimidation he felt from Elaina. Still, nodding her way to prevent disrespect on his own end, he added, "And I'll see to mine."

Before he would follow Mariah, he looked Ves's way one more time. This was going to have to be brief, as he didn't trust his emotions to not spring out. "Ves... thank you." For everything. "I'll see you here afterwards," he told her, whether it would be true or not.

Fergie​

"Ah..." Fergie glanced down at her leg, as if forgetting there was a hunk of metal replacing her wooden-lichen one. Really, she'd forgotten that Ash wasn't willing to duke it out until she was 100% again. It was respectable, though Fergie personally didn't understand it. Their enemies wouldn't care if she had a hindrance in battle, so why should allies? Would make for a decent challenge, too, fighting in the stupid thing. Eh, she'd just have to settle with SHF holograms.

Soon Sebas made his rounds here, alongside the towering Naka... with Orabelle clinging to her shoulders. Fergie was having a harder time than Ash keeping a straight face. It would never NOT be jarring to see children interact with pirates, especially the more stoic of them. It was like someone bringing a kitten into a tavern bar, and watching all the hardened sailors coo and fawn over the thing. Kids weren't as cute as kittens, but it was still endearing.

Fergie retreated to an empty table to order her typical meal of sardines and sauerkraut, ready to scarf it down so she could get back to work. An hour's time was going to pass quickly. Before she knew it, these ships would be hovering over a grueling battleground, granting no one escape unless they considered plunging to the seas below worth it.
Kids ain't supposed to be here. Well, it was be here or be dead, she reminded herself. Though it still begged the question that never stopped nagging at her--

"Never seen the crew kicked this into high gear."
Fergie's head snapped away from Sebas's table. "Jesus, how did I miss your huge ass stomping in?"
"Who knows? Couldn't be from the all the noise in here." Sarcasm aside, Bogrum did have a habit of walking on light feet. "Have you seen Demestral, by chance?"
"Nah. Seen Avery?" There wasn't much else to go over since yesterday's strategizing, but she wanted to gauge Avery's state of mind now that the action was right around the corner. As for Bogrum, she figured he wanted some pointers on Kraiven itself from their resident ex-resident.
"I haven't."
Fergie tapped the other side of her table. "Get some fuel in ye 'fore ye go pesterin' folks."


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Elaina Melora and Vespera Marine Seyres
Toron- Church Outskirts​

"Then I would suggest staying away from our battlefield. Evangeline is itching for a rampage."
"Yeah yeah, I've heard it before," Ves said, brushing off the warning with more sarcasm
Elaina's brow raised. This vampire was getting awfully testy. "I'm just giving you the warning. We don't want any unnecessary collateral."
Ves scoffed. "You say as you're about to summon a demon on our land. The quicker you leave us, the better."

Spoiler: Too Much Disrespect

Whack! Vespera fell to the ground, bruised cheek. She had just gotten pistol whipped and was now laying under the woman's boot with a gun pressed to her head.
"What are you doing, Lady Elaina!?" Mariah shrieked. She made a move to break it up, but looking at that gun stopped all resistance.

"No more fight, huh," Elaina taunted before leaning in. "Listen here, Vampire. You too, specimen," the woman said, eyes narrow and voice full of daggers, "I just spent all night. ALL. GODDAMN. NIGHT cleaning up the mess you people made in the most egregious and large scale child abuse operation I have ever witnessed. What I saw in there is going to haunt my dreams for a very long time." The woman's words were slow and deliberate, a controlled rage. Evangeline literally had a mental breakdown, and even Laylah was fighting her own pacifistic nature. She could tell that both ladies were very frustrated by their own angelic restraints, yet those restraints were exactly why this duo didn't do an overnight genocide. Elaina wasn't under such restraints though. "So....... Starting right here, right now, you will drop this farce that you people are in any way innocent and deserve anything less than for us to burn this city to the ground with all of you in it."

Vespera was TERRIFIED. All of this just reaffirmed that she was not a fighter. Yeah, she moved in self-defense but these kinds of confrontations just were not her forte in the least. She was just a postal worker. This weapon, she had no idea what it was, but if it were pointed at her head, it meant business. The boot on her back was pressing down and her ribs were starting to dig into the stone she was currently on. "I-I'm sorry," she managed to squeeze out. These people killed for fun. Ves had never killed anything besides undead. She has sword training that she uses with her baton, but the fact that she carries her baton means that she's never looking to kill. Hell, she prefers to THROW ROCKS instead of something deadly like a knife or throwing star

"SHUT UP!" A stomp on the girl's back. Elaina had reached her wit's end about this. Sleep deprived and traumatized, she hated damn near everyone on this rock. "I will not be condescended to by a single one of you. The specimen can thank his Goddess because without that Coin, he'd be strapped up to a bench in my workshop being dissected for science." These were chilling words delivered without a shred of hesitancy. And with that, Nancy better take special care to keep Nellie away from Elaina. "67% of those children have died from the Blight that was forced upon them." This ran especially deep for Elaina since bringing people back to life using Spirit Magic (which caused the Blight) was a CHOICE. They deliberately chose to not bring the parents of these orphans back to life. To her, that spoke to pre-meditation. It was bad enough to use them period. It was EVIL to deliberately leave them orphans to further that end. "I say eye for an eye."

"Lady Elaina, STOP!" Mariah jumped in and this time started pulling on her. "What's gotten into you?"
"Dead corrupted exploited children, Mariah," Elaina said, "I came into this just wanting ancient knowledge. Now I want corpses."
Elaina had to be patient with Mariah. She lived here and had to grapple with this egregious horror and even though she knew that things had to change, for obvious reasons, she couldn't go along with the slaughtering of everyone in the city. "I understand that you're angry, La-"
"Our PACIFIST GUARDIAN ANGEL asked her God to be released from her restraints. When our PACIFIST is asking for permission to kill, I have no objections."
More pulling, and finally Mariah got Elaina's boot off of Ves's back, but not before Elaina delivered a swift kick to the vampire girl's gut, knocking the wind out of her

Elaina regained her composure just as quickly her mini-unravelling ended. Elaina walked off back towards the Church. "I'm going back to the ship."
Vespera got freedom of movement not, and held her potentially bruised ribs. "Urrgh......Are you gonna tell your captain?" she stuttered, "And end us all?"
"This is out of our hands," Elaina responded bluntly, "It's in the hands of Laylah's God, Evangeline's Goddess, and the speciman's Goddess." She eyed the downed girl.

Vespera didn't like those odds, but if Laylah asked and they were still alive, her Unholy life banked on a Holy God who took mercy on them, after egregious wrongdoing of a Holy Church that she was too Unholy to ever have been involved in the first place. The vampire girl didn't know what to think at this point. Elaina was a horrible person through and through. However, given the chance to get them all killed, she still opted to spare them. Evangeline was a horrible person but their gods kept them alive. Laylah was supposedly the better one, being a pacifist. But she was the one who asked for permission to carry out the genocide. "Don't disrespect me again, Vampire." Parting words from her parting assailant

Given everything she has heard about the Church, the Blight, the Orphans, Elaina, and the Angels, the life-changing decision to leave all of this behind had never been solidified as fast as this little encounter did. Who was the most evil? Mozreliun? The Basenjis for summoning it on their land? Elaina? The head clergy for signing off on that whole operation with the children? Evangeline? Laylah, who asked permission to commit genocide? She would NEVER find the answer herself. The head clergy were dead, she couldn't enter the Church, she couldn't talk to those angels safely. Her friend had a deadly weapon, and just being near him was beginning to make her itch.

There was only one conclusion Vespera could draw: Everyone had their reasons for doing what they were doing. The morals of them was no longer important. It was no longer worth trying to air on the side of moral good. It was time to air on the side of Vespera, and Vespera wanted to get as far away from Kraiven, the Basenjis, and anything Holy.


----------------------------------------

Avery Valencia
Crew Wing- Mess Hall​

A deep yawn that caused his tail to straighten. A long night of work for him, an effort to ensure that Sebas didn't work too much. It wasn't like he was tired. It was just that he had been working nonstop, and that was LOVE in the mind of the catboy. But was it worth the effort? Yes it was, and yes it would be. He made it happen, he would MAKE it worth the effort on his part.

Avery walked into the Mess Hall, a bit disheveled. He was gonna eat then get a dose of Reset from Dr. Laylah. The cat boy took in the Mess Hall. Fergie and Bogrum as usual, Sebas with Naka and Orabelle, eating and talking. Naka in the Mess Hall? Yeah, that never tended to happened, so there was a reason Naka wanted to talk to him. Sebas would've just gone to her office

• Reset: A drug that immediately relieves any and all fatigue, muscle fatigue, wounds, illness, and any and all sleep deprivation. Addiction is highly likely if taken more than once within 48 hours. Luckily, Laylah is strict about her prescriptions

With his co-captain engaged, his Ship Captain engaged, and his Viking gathering Evangeline's Troops to deploy. Who did that leave?

Spoiler: A Conversation Among Many

"Mornin Avery!" A surprising tap on the back from his happy-go-lucky Wyvern Pilot. She was, like everyone else, dressed and ready, goggles on and giving him a rather rigid salute. "I thank you for trusting me with commandeering The Caboose. Just a quick question: What is your intent with The Caboose?"

They moved over to the line, where Avery ordered 3 pan-seared salmons and Demi ordered a salad with the same (1) pan-seared salmon. "The Canine will be our main attack ship," he responded, "The Basenji will serve as a long-range HUB. That ship is our King. We lose it, we're not all leaving Kraiven." The Basenji was the only ship able to house the entire crew. The other 2 sacrificed size for speed. "The Caboose will serve as troop augment."
"Troop Augment? You mean like reinforcements?"
"No, Troop Augment is something like a bombing run or sending in troops to get others out. We request a support, you send in troops by air to get it done, you get them out of there." It was kind of like mini spec-ops tasks or field orders. "You're best kept with the defense, because you are not only the most mobile, but the most versatile." Her ability to dual hat commandeering the ship and commandeering her Wyvern Squad, and that came with it a versatility that essentially made Demi the Knight on this field.
"I understand, and I thank you for the trust. I won't let you down."


Avery wondered why the woman talked like this. Was she still a child in fairy age? A teen? Or maybe that formality was just adhering to hierarchy, not unlike what Naka did. "Just one word of warning."
"I won't choose Kraiven over the Basenjis, if that's your hang-up."
It wasn't a hang-up, but it was spot on so he nodded. "Not a hang-up, but a caveat."
Demi took a deep breath and got serious. "I love my family, my old friends. I'm happy my dad finally peaked again in life." A somberness came over her look, but it was quickly replaced with determination. "While I have no intention of just letting them die, if I ever have to choose between them and my crew, I will choose the crew. Kraiven will never choose one of us over one of them."
While Avery thought her mindset correct, he couldn't be so sure about Demi herself when it came to Kraiven choosing of one of theirs over one of them. Demi wasn't just some Basenji. She was absolutely a resident of Kraiven, a former member of the Stoneroses, and the daughter of the goddamn president of that guild. Still........he wasn't about drive any points home or burst her bubble. It was great that, without hesitation, Demi identifies as a Basenji through and through. "I agree," was what he went with. "We're not here to be friends. We're just here to solve our issue and acquire some knowledge."
"Right. Our goals were a few relics afterall." Demi's goal was that Dragon Egg and she was deprived of it for them to fight the angels with.

He looked up from his meal. "Still, I'm glad you got time to reunite with them." A genuine smile, as it spread its infection to him at the time. "You somehow managed to look happier than you always do. Even Quincy seemed happy." Demestral had an infectious cheeriness about her, and while that cheeriness took a nosedive upon realizing that it was her homeland they were about to invade, it came back through this alternative plan
"I was. I really truly was," Demi said with a wide loving smile painted on her face at the thought, "I will never ever be able to repay Sebas for making this happen, and I can not apologize enough to YOU for how much harder all this made your life."
Wasn't that the damn truth? So much planning was thrown out after the shift from Kraiven to Mozreliun. The plan, the troop layout, the strategy, the leaders. It was a pain in the ass to plan this out, and if he stayed in cat form, he'd have licked himself until his fur started coming off. "Do you know WHY Sebas took on this for you?"
"I don't know. There's a reason why?"
Avery leaned in. "The reason why Sebas took this on for you," he started slowly, letting it linger just a little, "was because he felt bad about taking the Egg you wanted, and this was the best way he could repay you." With something of equal value. Buying a Dragon Egg was like buying an Angel. "You're enabling him to save Lostro, so he derailed the entirety of our initial plans AND pushed up his plans to liberate Lostro all in order to repay you."
Cats were very good at reading emotion, and Demi got VERY emotional very quickly. Then she took a deep breath and kept her composure. "I would consider it paid," she finally said. "I will thank him in private after we depart from here."

While Fergie and Bogrum were likely deep in their food by the time Avery and Demi arrived, it wasn't like they'd need to wait to see them. The Mess Hall was a guarantee before this fight, and given that they were about to deploy within the hour, their presence in said Mess Hall was a guarantee.

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

What was that about Nancy not feeling intimidated? Yeah, Elaina made quick work of that little hiccup.

"VES--" His cry and rapid approach stopped dead when that handheld tube was set against Vespera's skull. The immediate inference was that the weapon could and would kill, and since the distance between her and Elaina was well closed, Nancy attempting to get in between would do nothing. She'd be a dead body/pile of ash before his Coin would protect anyone.

What realistically had only been a few tense minutes felt like another twin century to witness. Elaina was clearly shaken to her core over the horrors she'd seen, pirate or not. Murderous intent to rival Evangeline's billowed in her eyes, and for those seconds as she rattled off her disdain of the people of Kraiven, their little truce was just a prick in the ice away from shattering the entire frozen lake. If Ves died here, everything would have been for nothing. But right now, he had a pretty good guess that Elaina didn't give a shit.

Maybe she would have come to her senses herself, or it was Sister Mariah who saved the day by pulling them apart. Nancy's statue-like stance crumbled as soon as the weapon was pointed away, and he scrambled to Ves's side. Just in case, though it seemed like Elaina didn't want to have another go. She'd made her point. He made sure she was leaving for good before craning his upper torso down to offer a hand. He wasn't going to touch her and risk burning her unless she was willing. "Are you-- Can you get up? Do you need help?" His hand was trembling, crystal voice picking up a shaking tenor. And it wasn't just from fear.

This... this was an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. For a bunch of criminals to invade their land, and step all over them like THEY were the criminals... "Some of the pirates chose this path because they didn't want to hurt innocents. So, now that said innocence is out of the question..." His matter-of-fact approach to this betrayed that he didn't completely disagree with Elaina's judgement. 200 years was an awfully long time to not notice there was a huge problem.
You walked in this church every day. You knew children were missing, and did nothing. No one did. Ves is the only person who has an excuse.
Guilt easily swelled into brewing anger when he remembered out of whom those words came, and who had taken the brunt of it. "... They'll use any justification to hurt us, if it's to their benefit." Elaina had confirmed his thoughts in that she just wanted him as an object of study. People were so strange in that they'd defend children to the ends of the earth, yet when those children grew up into adults, their personhood was suddenly gone. ESPECIALLY if they were non-human; to some, Ves was no more than a parasite, and Nancy no more than a talking fish. "It'll be over soon, Ves. We won't have to deal with them for long." He wasn't about to start scolding her for poking the bear. Yet another near-death experience was punishment enough.

Spoiler: Nancy's Warning

After ensuring Ves was okay, and that Elaina was gone out of earshot, Nancy clicked his crystal. "Nellie?"
A delay, then a flat response. "Nancy?"
"If you see a pirate woman on a horned Pegasus, take warning. She... pretty much threatened to make me into a science project."
"..."
"Um... dissection specifically--"
Her next response was still flat, chillingly. "I'll kill her for you."
"NO! No-- u-unless it's self-defense, I guess."
"Did she hurt you?"
"Not with the Coin. She doesn't know about you, but if she finds out, you might be her next target."
"If she wants to get taken back to her pirate ship with an icicle in her chest, it's her autopsy."
"Please don't. Just keep an eye on her in case you see her." Elaina had to have been sort of scout, so he didn't doubt her ability to find Nellie and potentially take her on. He also didn't doubt Nellie's ability to destroy Elaina in return. "I don't think she'd compromise the truce over this, but still..."
"Who's to say they'll keep their end of the deal?" Nellie's dark words made his stomach sink. Goddess Marianna confirmed that the pirates could ruin them if they wanted. The battle with the demon would weaken them enough to deter attacking the kingdom after, but would they be able to stop them from picking up some loot and slaves for the road? By Elaina's word-- if it could be trusted-- even the angels wanted them all dead. Perhaps they'd turn their backs on retribution as it happened. "I have to go. Don't drop your guard."

When Nellie was gone, Nancy again felt his chest tighten, pressure building up in his misty eyes. More and more, the reality of what was happening was crushing down on them like a hard stomp from Elaina's boot. First a threat to Kraiven as a whole, but now both Nancy and Ves had direct threats on their lives. "Sister Mariah," he started, forcing a deep breath into his clenching chest cavity, "can we get started please?"

Fergie and Bogrum​

When Avery entered the Mess, Fergie got a pretty good idea of his state just by looking at him. A bit messy and tired, but he didn't seem unhappy. But far be it from her to let that keep her from being hyperbolic. "Damn, he's a hot mess," she whispered to Bogrum. The lad looked pristine on even his lackluster days, so to have no time to groom was more telling than one might think.
"Looks worlds better than you did in the Sickbay." She figured he meant when she got wasted, but knowing that any number of the times she was there could have counted sort of struck her.
"Egh! Ye ain't wrong." She took a swig from her cup, finishing off her water. "All of it for no good reason, too. But Ave's been workin' damn hard."
"He has." One might call it overcompensating, for how much Avery was pushing. He was new to this and wanted to leave a good impression, but Bogrum didn't attribute too much to it. He was, simply put, getting strung out by the entire mission shift, having to plan two different missions twice in one day. It was a trial by fire like none other. "Adonis made a good choice putting him at the head."
"Heh. For once."

Bogrum had managed to finish off his eggs before Fergie was even done, and the dude put away a ton of them each day, still gaining strength and building muscle from his previous malnutrition. Anticipation made it harder for Fergie to stomach anything, but she was used to telling her body's responses to fuck off at this point. Avery and Demi were approached by the two after their conversation.
"Good morning."
"Mornin', lads n' lasses," she greeted, piggybacking off of Ash's earlier enthusiasm since she wasn't here to give it. "Fixin' to beat some demon ass today?"
"About that," Bogrum started, always to the point. "When you have a spare moment, Demestral, I wanted to ask for some advice. Preferably out of the Mess. It's a bit hard for me to make out anything in the noise here." A lie. Not about the noise, but about the advice. What Bogrum wanted to speak of wasn't something he wanted the bulk of the crew hearing.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Sister Mariah
Church​

Spoiler: Vampiric Anguish

Mariah helped Vespera to her feet along with Nancy. She wasn't as shaken as the other two. She held a higher truth than the duo. "We did see quite a bit of horridness," she told them, "and I can't blame them for being angry." She would also be haunted by this and while she wasn't HAPPY that the clergy died, the moment she was Ordained to become a Watcher, her mindeset began to change with the knowledge of the Judgement, who fit and who didn't.

"How much of the truth was Elaina telling?" Ves asked her as she finally gained enough of a composure to form a coherent sentence through both fear and injury.
"The whole," She responded with a sigh, "The angels....... They're making me into a Watcher, and as a Watcher, there's a good case." A Watcher, an angel type Nancy was familiar with as someone who studied the Holy. They were those who basically audited other Angels to ensure they were following Divinity Law. Basically what Evangeline did to Ghaznud, Mariah the Watcher could do to either of them if they were ever abusing their power. It was their ONLY call to offense, so the power granted to deal with it was the most of any angel. Like Laylah though, she was to be a pacifist unless acting under Ordination. "I'm not yet fledged to make the judgement, but neither was the other 3." It was like not being read their rights. Maybe they were being let go due to a technicality. It made her feel guilty that, if she were Ordained and became a full-fledged Watcher, Mariah would've approved the request to purge any and all Blighted.

Nancy and Mariah assisted the girl to her feet. "We will get Nancy to the Church, and we will do what we can. Vespera....." she grabbed the cheeks of the vampire girl. Then hugged her tightly. "Hear me closely: I love you." Despite her not being able to step foot in the Church, it was always a joy to be around the vampire. While she was a Holy nun and Ves a creature of Darkness, Ves was too much of a bundle of infectious joy on most days to ignore. She was essentially the joy of the Capital City, and she just bore the brunt of Elaina's wrath while being literally unable to be guilty of the crime.

At this point, Ves began to weep. "I didn't ask for any of this," she sobbed, "You and Nancy are Ordained to live and me die over NOTHING." Ves shrieked that last word. Literally shrieked it to the heavens. "Why was I born guilty? I. Just. Delivered. MAAAIILL!! It's all I ever wanted to do......." It was indeed all she ever wanted. She overhauled a portion of Guild Stoneroses entirely for this reason, and established an entire post office to put Stoneroses on the map as something worth watching in the first place. "I didn't ask to be born like this." Her voice began to crack as anguish consumed her. "...........Trust me, I wouldn't if I could choose........."

"Stop with that, Ves!" Mariah shook her, "You're not guilty of anything!"
"I'm tired of being treated like it, Sister." Ves told her, her red eyes taking on a different look of red, that same red of someone crying. "If it's not because I'm a vampire then it's because I'm here living in the same city as TERRIBLE PEOPLE." At that point, Mariah let the girl cry. Let her let it all out. It wasn't like she could relate. Plus, Mariah herself wasn't done with the Basenjis. "Watchers make judgements. No matter what happens, I will protect you. I will have the authority to," she whispered to the broken down vampire. That steeled her resolve. "She was just angry. She doesn't want to kill you." The truce was indeed sandpaper thin but the one to keep it alive was Elaina who, despite her harsh words, acted completely against said words. Mariah saw the good in that woman, just like Elaina saw the good in her Mariah. She saw much greater good in Vespera and right now? She needed support in this crunched timeline.

After bawling her eyes out enough, Ves stood up again after a deep sigh and a deeper inhale. "I'm going now," she said. She wasn't happy by any means. "Nancy, Mariah. I love you both. I've never had a more supportive friend than you, Nancy." Never did someone begin a conversation like that to deliver good news. "After this is over, I'm.........leaving Kraiven. I miss my parents."

"Plus........" She started to get emotional again and her voice started to crack. "You're......." Ves shook her head quite a bit before speaking again. "......You're both dangerous to me now." It was very clearly words that bothered her to say, and it sunk in to Mariah that they were indeed in different worlds. She showed them her arms, where there were burn marks from how they assisted her in getting up and Mariah hugging her. Ves had chosen to take the burn for the hug.

"Stay safe, you two........." With that, Vespera ran off

Mariah's heart hurt on multiple levels. One of the best people she knew was going to leave them forever, and Kraiven was going to feel empty without Vespera around. While Mariah began to tear up at what had just happened, and while she allowed the tears to run down her face, there was business to tend to. That left the Locathah and the Angel-to-be to head to the Church together, seeing Elaina fly off on her Alicorn. The woman tapped her crystal. "Lady Elaina, will you be returning?"
The voice picked up. "At some point. I will be at the Church during the fight." That reassured the woman. Her brutality towards Vespera aside, it was impossible to NOT feel reassured by her presence given what they had just did overnight. She was absolutely reliable, and Mariah felt a pang of guilt at feeling reassured given that Elaina just reduced Ves into an emotional mess.
"Right, I'm getting Nancy to the Church and letting him set up what he needs."
"Show Nancy the corridors where we treated the Blight," Elaina told her, surprising the nun by using his name now instead of calling him Specimen. "Since Vespera couldn't see it, at least let him see it."
"You sound in a better mood."
"Let it be known that I was polite to her," came the response explaining her actions. "She was bitchy for no reason, so I adjusted her attitude. It was therapeutic."
Mariah sighed. This was indeed true, but it seemed like Elaina took it too far over a few snippy words. "You must learn patience, Lady Elaina."
"I used all of that overnight." Elaina said with a chuckle. "Maybe I shouldn't have gone off on Nancy too though." Knowing Elaina, it was indeed a fat bluff. While she knew that Elaina probably actually would, she wanted to interrogate him and learn, not cut him open. "Oh well, carry on. I'll be back soon." Connection severed.

The Church loomed over them, a familiar sight now feeling unfamiliar to the nun. While she loved the feeling of being embraced by its Holiness, it was marred by knowing what was below, what they were going to do first before anything else. Nancy had heard their exchange, and however he felt about Elaina, he was about to have to work with her. "Lady Elaina wants you to see the quarantined zone," she told him, "It is somewhat cleaned compared to before. Brace yourself though. It will be hard to see. Lady Elaina almost killed me on the spot, and I will live for eternity believing that it would've been justified if she did." While the Orphanage was not where Mariah worked, this Church where they all prayed was where all this went on. It was said that Angels' jobs were not random, that they are chosen by an Overseer

As they moved over to Eden's Door, the feeling of unease crept up on her again, and it increased tenfold as she opened the door. The route leading to the Corrupted Corridor was busted open, preventing the need to push the secret button. They were heading down and while she knew what lie below, her chest was kind of heaving. Her brain told her that there was nothing to worry about, but not only being here but being here without Elaina or the Angels made her worry.

Avery Valencia and Demestral Asella
Mess Hall​

The duo's conversation wasn't quite cut short as it was just a bunch of small talk at this point. Avery stood up at the approach of Fergie and Bogrum. Fergie seemed enthused and Bogrum was to the point as always. "Good morning Fergie, Bogrum," he returned the greeting. "We are just finishing up here. After you're done, rally your units." They all had units to account for and that would take a minute, so their time was actually shorter than expected. Of course as leaders, they would have less time.
"My units are already boarded on the Caboose. They're just awaiting my arrival. You may consider me ready."
"Thank you, Demi. Just put out a quick update once you've taken over the Caboose."
"Can do. I will see you over the body of that demon."

Avery Valencia
Crew Wing- Mess Hall​

"Fergie, I trust you slept well enough," Avery told her. He would assume so since she approached them without a bite to her voice. "I did an overnight operation down below. It'll make our lives easier." The operation was easy, but it was time consuming. Plus, it wasn't easy working alongside Damond. The man kind of had it out for Sebas for him not wanting to slaughter the entire population, and it translated to him bitching way too much. If Avery didn't know better, he would think that Damond was passive-aggressively attempting to get them noticed under the moonlight to start a fight and upend the truce.

"I'm ready. About as ready as I'll ever be." The effects of the operation wouldn't make or break the raid. It was just a little bit of an insurance plan, a contingency to swing things back in their favor should they start getting pushed back. "The operation gave me reassurance." It was definitely in line with something Avery would do, but despite his disheveled look, he finally had a solid coherent air of confidence.


Sebas walked by with Ora and Naka. "I'm about to head to the angels, then I'm grabbing Lostro." Sebas said, stopping only to say this. "We're ready." Oh how Avery wanted to talk to Sebas. He would get his chance, and he was gonna make this happen before they separated for the duration of the battle.
"Naka is also ready, Raid Captains. All weapons staged, all troops in position. Naka will be on Deck." While Naka had her usual poker-faced look about her, Sebas had a focused look about him. The man knew what he had to do, and he'd get one shot and one shot only.

Avery nodded. "See you both soon." With that, they made their exit. It seemed like everything was about ready now. He turned to Fergie. "How about you? All things good on your end?"

Demestral Asella
Crew Wing- Mess Hall ----------> Crew Wing- Library​

The more private area Demi had in mind was the library, being the closest to the Mess Hall. No one was in here besides Elaina, who was working on something else. Given that she was completely engrossed in her work, there was no chance for them to be bothered here. She honestly wanted to know what it was that Bogrum wanted to talk about. Especially something so important that he didn't want to talk about it around the crew. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about? Is it stuff related to the Kraiven Defense?" She was about to be close air support directly over where Bogrum's troops would be.

WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

"Oh, Ves..." It was rare for Vespera to break down before anyone else did. To see her finally succumb to anguish tore his heart, and while he let his tears fall freely, he fought to keep from weeping alongside her. He thought he could latch onto anger towards Elaina while they comforted her, settling a hand on her back, but he knew that this wasn't the only cause for her pain. Elaina's misplaced punishment was just the breaking point. There was a reason her continued use of "vampire" bothered him as it did Ves; maybe a diverse pirate crew thought nothing of it, or things had changed over the many years, but to the two it was still belittling.

Ultimately, what grounded him was appreciation for Mariah. Among a clergy that still treated Nancy weirdly, let alone Vespera, she had always treated them with kindness. Even in a kingdom full of people forced to accept each others differences, genuine love was hard to find. It was no wonder why Mariah was chosen to be Primed.

Then Vespera said what he'd been dreading ever since they'd been pulled out of limbo. He knew this was coming. She was the one person in this old kingdom who still had a family out there, and he'd be selfish to think that she'd forgo that reunion to remain with the same people she had been with for 200 years. So in the back of his mind, he had rightfully prepared for this. But watching her leave made a sob catch in his throat regardless, a hand covering his mouth while the other cupped his crystal. The burns on her skin burned into his mind; the mortal realm was tearing him apart from his best friend. A cruelty of circumstance of which he could place blame on no-one.


Hearing Elaina on Mariah's crystal only made it harder to compose himself. You hurt her and made her cry, and now she's GONE. Why was she being decent all of a sudden? Was it... really just a bluff? Had she just been lashing out? Nancy didn't want to put any trust in the woman, but if Mariah was being patient with her, maybe...
Wiping more tears away, he forced himself to take in the sight that he'd been avoiding. Bodies so charred he couldn't recognize a single face. If it was a punishment fitting for the crime, then it had to be a crime beyond heinous. Elaina's distress at whatever she had seen was real, whether the threats were or not.
Threats were threats, though. Maybe he just sent his sister in a tizzy over nothing, but he wasn't going to feel comfortable just because Elaina was expressing a shred of regret.

Mariah was to take him to see the quarantine zone. Nodding, he wiped his face again and took in a fortifying breath. He had no idea what to expect, but sensing Mariah's growing fear, he knew to anticipate horrors. As they descended, his nose was hit with the gentlest whiff of something. His nostrils closed up, barbels curling defensively against his chin. Despite the quarantine, some of the smell must still be creeping out, if only marginally. Either Sister Mariah was nose-blind to it at this point, or it was so minute only Nancy can detect it. And what he could detect made the nausea he had been fighting a much more grueling battle.
"What... is this??" his crystal croaked once they were level with the corridor. It was odd to him to be getting this reaction, because it didn't even smell "bad". There was no sting of rotting flesh, not even a scent of decay like he was accustomed with from his mushroom lab. It almost didn't HAVE a scent, but whatever it was was triggering his fight-or-flight. It just felt WRONG somehow, and his fish brain was screaming at him to flee.

Fergie​

Ah, so he really hadn't had time to groom. Avery had been working non-stop since yesterday noon, and while it showed in his present exhaustion, it also showed in his demeanor. He'd done everything he knew to in order to prepare, and was at peak readiness. Fergie was satisfied to hear confidence strengthening in his voice. It was actually a bit contagious, reassuring her that the crew would be alright under him. "Good, that."

And she would have left it at that, had Avery not turned the tables on her. Now she was being asked how she was doing? Fergie blinked, caught off guard. "Eh... aye. I'm good." She supposed. Good enough to get the job done. "This's been a long time comin'. I think folks 'll rest a lot easier without a demon runnin' free in the halls." Though to not sound callous, she was sure to add, "And the kid deserves to be free. She didn't ask for any of this."

Bogrum Mazoga​

The difference between the bustling Mess and the desolate Library was so vast, Bogrum was almost worried that having no noise to drown out this conversation was just as bad. But seeing that the only other occupant was Elaina, who nose-deep in a book, he was put at ease. He didn't mind if Elaina caught an ear of this, as he was sure she was likely wanting to conduct her own little investigation into this.

"I would like to discuss that. But first, something's been on my mind" His conversation with Dr. Laylah had stuck with him since yesterday. Whatever part Adonis or Sebas had in this, there was still one thing that never made sense to him. "From my understanding, you didn't recognize that this was your kingdom until the scouting mission." Somehow the name-drop of the king and his kingdom hadn't jogged Demi's memory, but seeing the land in its entirety had. "Do you know why that might be? Sorry if this is invasive to ask. I'm only curious."


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Sister Mariah
Corrupted Corridor​

"You're sensing Blight," Mariah told him. She had the exact same apprehension he had. It was the exact same apprehension she had going into it. "It's something that I haven't gone insensitive to, but gotten used to. With a mask." As stairwell winded down, the smell/sense got worse until they were in the corridor where it all but peaked.

The first thing Mariah showed him was the first room, a few children. This room was
if their eyes were opened, were completely red. In fact, ALL of the dead children as well as the dead nuns were here piled up. It was horrific to see, because a lot of them were rotting. This spoke to the fact that the Blight worked its effects, albeit slower, in the Null Realm.

She took him to another room. The smell was worse. HORRENDOUSLY worse to the point where Mariah regretted not grabbing the gas mask Elaina left. It was like sealing the smell of old food: When you unleash it, it is much worse than just letting it waft.
These children were tinted red in skin tone. They looked at them like hostile creatures in the dark, red eyed and shrinking in appearance. One of them walked up to Mariah, and it was a child she recognized. Mariah didn't fight it. In fact, she touched the child's face. His face was cold and made her feel uneasy.
"I'm sorry, my dear. You will be treated."
However, if she felt uncomfortable touching him, imagine how he felt being the subject of it. Those were words that Elaina told her, and those words made her want to comfort those children instead of shy away, though Elaina still didn't touch those children without gloves. It was the sole reason she touched this child in the first place. That, and that she was Ordained to be an Angel so she wouldn't get infected regardless. "THESE children are terminally Blighted," she explained, looking at the child.

Another room. This one was just plain gorey. This was where the rest of the dead were kept. "This room.......this.........This is where the debauchery started." Some of the dead nuns were pregnant. Maybe Ves wasn't tuned in, but even she would recognize why a currently pregnant dead nun was an issue. Some of them had amputated limbs, and the one on the bottom was lying in a pool of blood just barely able to be deciphered from tar. "One can ascertain why one would amputate a limb, but to fu-" she cleared her throat. She was a nun, not a degenerate. "But to do sexual things to someone you know is Blighted, knowing it could potentially spread........It speaks to a low moral compass. That isn't even to mention that these were NUNS." That was the most she could say. Elaina and Evangeline used MUCH harsher words, but her and Laylah tried to keep their composure. "Benefit of the doubt says it didn't get worse, but word of the Angels says they did." Twas taboo for Angels to lie

"These children were........ chosen. Chosen to take on the Blight to save the kingdom. I won't argue with their reasons but....... If you were sick and given the option to cure that sickness in exchange for a child taking that sickness, would you?" Again rhetorical. The woman leaned on the side of NO, but it wasn't like she could blame someone for leaning on the side of YES. It was the entire reason why she's kept a neutral stance in all of this, including the exchange between Elaina and Ves.

Demestral Asella
Crew Wing- Library​

Demi's demeanor immediately became serious at the inquiry. She was honestly relieved that he was bringing up a probable that didn't apply at this specific moment. At that moment, she put it in the back of her mind. Still......... "I will be investigating exactly that," she said, "Raid Captain Avery told me that Captain Sebas took this on because he took the Dragon Egg and that it was payment. Fine, I would've given it to him if that were the case. However." She exhaled and took a moment. After what Avery told her, it was important. "Captain Sebas has told us plenty of times, there are no coincidences." It wasn't even like he had to be told. Sebas had told him a BUNCH of times, regardless of what Fergie may have/have not had him believe

It was something that was bothering her. "This is something I can't ignore. I will not be gaslit to not believe what I know is the truth. My memories were jammed." Jammed instead of altered. If memories were altered, she wouldn't be questioning exactly that right now unless there was a contradiction in what she should or shouldn't know. "I am NOT happy with Adonis, and I can only thank Captain Sebas for being allowed to do what I want." If Bogrum were paying attention, he'd notice the blatant use of honorifics towards Sebas yet lack towards Adonis. Adonis lost a LOT of good will from the pixie, and she held a generally optimistic view of things.

"That is for future Demestral. The me now is looking to protect both you and your troops, and my homeland."


-------------------------------------------------------

Avery Valencia
Crew Wing- Mess Hall​

"I would leave it that," the catboy said with that same smile. "but I asked how YOU were doing." How she felt relative to everyone else. "The well-being of the crew takes priority, but I asked you how YOU felt as my co-captain." He wouldn't bother her about that. He wouldn't exactly open up to her, so it made sense that she wouldn't open up to him, not that he even expected her to. To him, she was in a zone that wouldn't be disturbed by anyone but a certain orc man. "I did an entire operation because I didn't feel confident. Do YOU feel fine about this?" If she didn't, did it help her confidence knowing that Avery did some things from the shadows to help their chances?

"I'll ask again when this is over."


---------------------------------------



Showtime

The alarm rang. It was time to deploy for the fight. Naka stood stone still by the mortars, knowing she was ready. The apprehension was electric among the entire crew, and one couldn't expect it to be any different across the ships. The Basenjis were about as ready as they could get. It wasn't a raid on some enemy ship so the prep was different. It was a raid entirely centered on some big boss that they knew that they may not come back from. Reality was setting in for some, but for most, this was what they lived for. This was the nature of Ash's troops, employed under Evangeline. The woman bestowed upon them the glory of battle over the value of life, though she didn't let them forget what Evangeline or Damond wouldn't hesitate to let them throw their lives away for. She wanted them to live. Evangeline/Damond were fine with letting them die for the crusade. They would do what they wished

Sebas was on the deck, Orabelle on his left and Lostro on his right. Lostro was blindfolded. Not only blindfolded but in a hair cover that would blind the sight of the dead snakes that made up her hair. This made the out of control gorgon stare useless. Crazy that it took this much to do so in the first place.
"You are good men and women," he yelled to them, "We live for the glory and the riches!"
"Hooii" they screamed, raising their blades and guns in the air
"We will cut down any and all that stand in our way!"
"Hooii!"
"We do what the fuck we want, or we die for cause. Understand?!?!"
"Hooii!" There were cheers to this one. Never would they act like their lifespan was anything other than disposable. They were pirates. Either they retire legit, or they die trying to retire legit

The Basenjis lived for it. Under Evangeline and Damond's leadership, it was do or die. Sebas took care to make sure that Lostro didn't know what was going on. Her ignorance fueled this entire operation. There wasn't a soul on this ship that wasn't prepped to not come back from this. Every knife-biting degenerate that made up their crew knew that, more than ever, they may not come back from this. Yet they...........YET THEY....... they took it face-first in stride and with a blade in hand and gun in the other.
"Men, we will purge." This was Evangeline's voice, for once looking upon the men with something other than contempt
"Hooii!"
"The vermin will not prevail. Understand?" She chose her words carefully since Lostro was nearby. She wanted to use the term "unholy" but opted for "vermin." Same difference to the Enforcer anyways
"Hooii!"
"Ruthless." she said, voice darkening. "God-endorsed." she continued, "Aggression." she finished with the most malevolent yet genuine tone she could muster. "My Goddess WILL have Her purge. It is time to Enforce." The woman brimmed with somehow MORE malicious intent than usual, but for once, it wasn't towards them
"HOOII!!" If there was one thing they agreed with the Bloodthirsty Angel on, it was aggression. They wouldn't even pretend that they understood what all of that supernatural shit meant. They could get gold out of it, and for them, that was the most important


"Crew. We will bombard," Naka said to her gathered lizardmen. As cross-armed and business-like as ever.
"AND DESTROY!!" they chanted, going along with their leader.
"Naka was entrusted with this ship. Naka will not lead you astray."
"DESTROY!!!"
It was only at moments like this that she understood why there were catchphrases. "Naka does not tolerate a miss. That is for other ships."
"DESTROY!!" they said
"Naka has trained all of you. Naka trusts in her crew if nothing else." They moved to her word where they were told. If there was nothing else, there was the effectiveness of the tight crew Naka ran, especially given that she was to run the Canine. "The Canine WILL target accurate."
"DESTROY!" Naka knew that nothing and absolutely nothing else mattered to her crew. Timely attacks. Accurate attacks. The scaled beasts moved to their weapons as Naka laid out.
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

What Nancy would bear witness to would leave him questioning if what he was seeing was real, as if he were still in bed dreaming feverishly. Wouldn't that be nice? If everything since Kraiven being pulled back was just some horrible dream brought on by a botched potion, and he'd wake up to those same empty skies as he always had? But no amount of wistful thinking could guard him from the truth.

Piles of bodies, each in a different state of decay. Terrified children too Blighted to speak. Sick nuns left to rot. Several times Nancy had to hold back vomit, as much from the smell as the sight of gore. Instead of his gag reflex growing worse after seeing each room, a numbness began to take over. He'd never seen anything like this; beyond comprehension, it was the kind of horror that one couldn't even begin to process. The more he saw, the more he thought "why, why, why".

"They're visibly pregnant," he breathed, stating the obvious but it was grounding him. He was between breaking down and dissociating from this entirely. "It shouldn't be possible for children to develop in the Null." Not without magical assistance. But growing crops and growing an entire baby were two very, very different things. "Was this... some sort of failed breeding program?" Grief clenched his throat. "To make their own fodder for the Blight?" And when the clergy realized it was too much work, or too slow of a process to combat the spreading Blight, they moved on to children who had no one to protect them? He hoped Sister Mariah could correct him, and tell him it wasn't as bad as it looked. But at this point, he was prepared to be told that it was much, much worse than what he could fathom from this sight.

Fergie and Bogrum​

"Do what we do best, mates," Fergie called out to her crew. "We bring back booty, or we bring back bodies! Victory or death, give those motherfuckers something to remember us by!" If they were to die this day, they'd die dragging their enemies down with them. "And while ye's at it... pray this gets ye right with your personal god. 'Cause Hell herself 'll have hell to pay, tryin' to hold down you bloody lot of savages!" Coming from Fergie, this was nothing short of a compliment. Many of her selected troops were those pirates unhinged enough to put fear in many of the lower-rung leaders. Never did she discourage their wrath, but Fergie would slam her boot in the back of their necks before letting them see any fear.

Anyone with a lick of sense about 'em would be scared, Fergie thought, remembering Avery's pestering. Okay, maybe it wasn't fair to call it that. She wasn't exactly mad that he caught her deflecting. It was as much his job to do a morale check as it was hers, but still... Done this shit a million times. Don't worry about me, kid. Greater stakes out there today.



Greater than I thought. Bogrum looked over the ship deck, at every man and woman ready to be deployed, and perhaps to never return. The fact that this wasn't supposed to be happening at all was less pricking the back his mind and more punching him in the gut. Demestral had confirmed his suspicions that Adonis had tried to prevent this, but it didn't surprise him in the least. He WAS surprised that he didn't hear Fergie mouth off her own suspicions last night, considering how bleak she was starting to talk at the end of their drinks. Maybe she was just focused on the big undertaking underway, and would let her ire be known after the fact when she didn't have lives under her charge. She certainly gave a shit about this crew... which was something he couldn't say about their begrudged captain.

Nearly all of the leadership was growing disenfranchised with the man now. From Sebas's dissatisfaction over the diving mission, Fergie's general disdain, Dr. Laylah's controlled rage, and now even Demestral wouldn't refer to him by his title. Bogrum could see plainly where this could lead to. And it started with an "M", and ended with a "why did I decide to stay with these people".

She's not wrong. He watched Fergie rally her troops, a lust for blood and glory drowning the innate worries that prickled her neck hairs. I'm really not supposed to be here. But had there really ever been a place where he belonged? He could only keep trudging along, like a good soldier ought to.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Spoiler: Pre-Time Skip

Sister Mariah
Corrupted Corridor​

"You are correct" she said, unfortunately for him. There was no other explanation as to why a nun was pregnant and dead here. The baby inside? Dormant, not yet dead. "It may explain why so many nuns may not have been able to maintain chastity. Maybe someone of them weren't given a choice. Also.........Creating Life is a Holy thing." Holy Magic is all about life. Creating, preserving, healing, and reviving. "While one can grow a life without it obviously, in the Null Realm, time is not an option and Holy Magic is not an option. What are you left with? Lot of magic expense to advance even a MINUTE into the future, let alone 9 months." That being said, the nun was very very much so pregnant, so it wasn't like they didn't try. THAT was the giveaway that this was attempted before they moved to the orphanage

"This is nowhere near the last room, but it is the worst of the rooms. I'll not grief you further. This was just to explain the newfound vitriol, especially in Lady Elaina. I don't hate the pirates for what they're doing. Not after this. There is Karma that needs to be collected." Those were the first words that showed which side she clearly leaned on, and it damn sure wasn't on the side of Kraiven. "The children we gave a home where there they had none, as well as my fellow nuns, were used for this. King and Council were not ignorant." One of the clergy, the highest head was on that Council. The only reason he was even alive still was because the Angels wanted to spare his death for after the fight, so as to now send the Basenjis to war. "Anyone who knew of this operation will be treated as accomplices."

She sighed. "But that........is a Mariah the Watcher problem, not a Sister Mariah problem. I have shown you enough, my Blessed. After you process this information, it is time to focus on the present issue. After this is over though, my hope is that you either leave here or overhaul it." In other words, now he no longer has ignorance. He was told the truth, he saw the truth with his own eyes

"Enough. It is time to prepare your place in this Church."

Vespera Marine Seyres
Stoneroses HQ​

As the swigs from her Everquench Canteen increased, and the feet between her and the Church/Nancy/Mariah increased, the itching got weaker until it stopped. The girl couldn't think straight. The mind fog from being around those two and the Church clouded everything, and it finally left as well. It didn't change the fact that her emotion all came spilling out after that. The only thing that actually hurt was her pressing the boot into her back, and then that second kick. Still, there was a level of murderous intent that just froze her blood still. It was simply something she hadn't dealt with in a very very long time. In reality, especially after blood empowerment and learning about that weapon she had, she could take Elaina on. It was just.........There was no way she would learn it enough to beat it without a bullet in her head. An arrow to the head was not the time to learn about the capabilities of a bow.

Ves went back to the Stoneroses, face red from crying, to meet up with the crew she would be leading. They would be taking the backside of the defense. "Vessy! Are you OK?! You look awful!" It was Efilisa, charging to her side immediately upon seeing her and hugging her.
"Yeah, I just worry about Nancy," she lied, sighing into the hug. Oh gods, Efi always gave the best and warmest hugs, and best of all there was no Holiness to counteract it. Just genuine love and affection

With that Coin, there was no need to ever worry. Only if the Coin activated to keep him from death (and was thus consumed) would worry begin. Then again, it being consumed would make him approachable again. Sucks that to get her life back, bad things had to happen.
"He'll be fine, I'm sure. He has the blessing of his Goddess," the Arachne told her. Efi was an Arachne, thus not a creature of darkness (more akin to a Beastkin). If needed, she would go to the Church and, whether or not THEY thought she was a creature of darkness was irrelevant. She wasn't. Never was
Ves faked a smile. "Of course. Mariana will protect him. For now though, I will do my best for all of you. Are you ready?"
She nodded, her expression turning serious. "I never thought the Receptionist would have to fight again, but I will defend my adventurers." She held genuine love for those she took under her web, especially after so long. "That includes you, Vessy."
"The Stoneroses made it out once. We will make it again."
"Yes we will. Fully intact this time." Efi never got over the deaths of those who served under her guidance. She always said she was tortured by it. Still, alongside her were the crew she would be leading. "We're ready."
"Let's get it moving then. ONWARDS!" Ves yelled

(Time Skip. No need to reply to Mariah)

-------------------------------------------

Correcting an Unholy Mistake or Collecting Holy Karma?​

Meanwhile from up above, the Basenjis moved to their positions. After some goodbye hugs and fist bumps, as well as promises of kegs if they made it out alive, as well as bets of gold on who would kill the most, Demi and Bogrum boarded the Caboose with their respective crew. However, underneath all of the jubilee and pre-battle hype, anticipation ran deep. As always before a raid, there would be anticipation, because rarely did everyone make it back alive and everyone had to prepare themselves knowing that they may very well draw the short stick this time. However, even in this case, it wasn't enough to deter the pirates at all. Why? Because the vast majority of them had no perception of the supernatural. Most of them couldn't comprehend what magic even WAS, let alone use it or understand how strong an "ancient demon" was. This was why the leadership was so important. It wasn't their JOB to understand. All most of them knew was "Big enemy, big threat. Kill it. Get loot."

It really was important, Evangeline's job here. Her support allowed them to fight without having to think beyond how to cut them down (as in "how do I make them VULNERABLE to then cut down). Otherwise, every demon they'd fight would have an additional layer of thought to it, and there wasn't enough time in a MONTH to teach this many of these boneheads how to kill off supernatural beings.

With everyone staged where they need to be, the ships moved to their positions.

The Canine was closest to the battlefield, which was about 2 miles out from Toron (the Capital City). The battlefield was to be a large field of rolling hills with light woodlands to traverse between it and Toron. In the midst of these woodlands was where the reinforcements would be placed, spread across the woods. The Front 3rd would serve to reinforce the front end. The Mid 3rd would serve as its own line of defense, and the Back 3rd would serve to augment either the Mid or the Kraiven Defense. Evangeline was staged at the very front, with Damond in the middle. Once her purge started, there would be no doubt that her influence would be reaching every soldier in the area.

The Basenji Main Ship was staged at the back of the Woodlands, ready to augment either ship. As the most heavily armed ship, the one with the best long-range capabilities, and the most defended, Adonis took it upon himself to explain the placement of his ship. At his word, that Dreadnaught of a ship that served as the commanding ship, it would not stay in the backdrop. While this inflicted a bit of anxiety within their Raid Captain Catboy, the commander did know his ship better than anyone else. Fergie would be where she pleased, and would stage Fatimah where she would be needed

The Kraiven Defense Force consisted of Bogrum and his troops. As one of the most defensive-minded of the crew, his forte was here. With the Asella Guildmaster at his side, and the Asella Daughter running The Caboose flying overhead to defend, as well as send troops out via their ultra-mobile Wyvern Squad, it was a solid setup overall. The only reason this wasn't done further out was because at the center of Toron lie the Church. A bastion of Holiness, augmented by Goddess Mariana, it effectively served as its own Holy Weapon. This Holy Weapon would be commandeered by Elaina, Angel-to-be Sister Mariah, and powered by the Blessed Locathah Nancy Noi. It would be a prime target for a demon invading the land, so Elaina had defensive troops at her command consisting of Marksmen/Snipers, and a few of the Clergy and holy-imbued soldiers that were employed under Adonis. Elaina herself was armed with a Sniper

At the epicenter? Sebas, Orabelle holding his left hand, Evangeline, and Dr. Laylah floating overhead. The man was holding the subject of this fight: An unconscious Undead Gorgon Dwarf child, hoisted on his right shoulder.

Locations:

1. Toron
   • Church- Elaina, Nancy, Mariah
   • Stoneroses HQ- Vespera
   • Gates- Bogrum, Arnold Asella
   • Skies Above- Demestral Asella (The Caboose)
2. Forest- Reinforcements
   • Fergie, Fatimah
   • Skies Above- Adonis (The Basenji)
3. Frontlines
   • Ashlynn, Damond, Evangeline
   • Skies Above- Nakaos (The Canine), Duradel
4. Epicenter
   • Sebas, Orabelle, Dr. Laylah

Sebas Deadeye
Battlefield Epicenter​

Spoiler: Showtime

Lostro was gently laid down in the center of the circle. It took having to make her fall into a Magic Coma in order to ensure Mozza wouldn't catch on. If she were comatose, Mozza would go dormant unless the girl's life was in imminent danger, something that this ritual wouldn't do. Ora tightened her grip on his hand, and it made Sebas inhale deeply. This is it, he thought. A lot of what he worked for, pushed forward by doing right by someone else. Adonis had taken this girl from him, and he was taking her back. To the Basenji Captain, Lostro was a weapon gone wrong. They raided the Pockets and slaughtered their tribe all to get their hands on a chest containing the demon that betrayed them. When looking for the rats, Adonis's solution? Sacrifice this virgin child to the demon so she could reveal them. Surprise surprise! It was the demon that betrayed them.

There was such a high level of spite the man held towards Adonis. Then the shit with Demi was NOT a coincidence. No way in hell that woman heard the name of her kingdom, the name of the king of that kingdom, and the name of the homeland and couldn't remember it. There was legitimate foul play in the works, but the captain's blunder was relying on the memory haze to hold while assigning her to a different ship than the one he controlled. He would figure that out. For now though, it was time to strike another blow. If Adonis didn't come out with the Spirit Tome, it would be a massive win.

"Is it time?" Ora asked him
"It is time," he affirmed, "Stay with me. She will be your sister soon."
Orabelle nodded and summoned her staff.
"All units. Be advised, we're beginning." This was the crystal, and all of the leaders were patched into it to maintain communication throughout this. "Avery. Ready?"
"I'm ready. Send it."
"CALL IT!" Sebas hopped on a horse with Ora and took off from the Epicenter to the Vanguard

Evangeline the Enforcer​

"ORDER!" First was Evangeline. In the brightest glowing light ever produced before. "Gods, Goddesses, MY Goddess......." she declared. Every unit patched in could hear this, and everyone in the Church could hear this as well. ".......The threat presented here is as undeniable as the intrigue it must've piqued for all of You to bless this unworthy land with your gaze." The woman's words, while proud and regal, also had a bit of inexperience behind them, shown by the generally quick output. "My Goddess, You have heard the reports, and now I ask for Your permission to access the full range of my Angelic Power to purge as is Your standing will."

Spoiler: Order Ruling 1

On High- Holy Throne Room

Gathered in the Throne Room, an assembly of Gods at a round table watching everything. Out in the court yard across the heavens, so so so many eyes tuned in to see the outcome. It wasn't often that those On High got this level of entertainment. Of course if these humans lost, they [the angels] would be called into action, but it would be joyous in itself to visit the Earth Realm anyways
From the Throne room, the Goddess heard her Enforcer's prayer. Of course she would grant it. This was already prior discussed. She stood up to make her declaration. "Permission Granted. Leave not a si-"
"Hold on, Banera." Someone else stood up, the culprit who interrupted her. Blue-skinned, finned arms, gills on the midsection, webbed hands and feet. "You know my Child, Sebas. He will remain untouched." Mariana in a humanoid form. She couldn't exactly go in her Trench form
"Of course, Mariana," Banera said with a roll of her eyes. "That goes without saying."
"With you and your bloodthirsty ilk, that does NOT go without saying," the woman countered firmly. "There is another I have my eyes on. The True Blood vampire, Vespera. I want her untouched as well."
"Shall we spare every other Unholy and Blighted worm that writhes on Kraiven?"
"That girl is innocent," Mariana said. "I know BIRTH makes someone guilty in your eyes, but that is why you are a Blade, not a Gavel." Stinging words from the sole Holy God that was also Unholy. "Your Enforcer's blade will stay still towards my Child and towards that Vampire."
"Sustained. Banera, Evangeline will comply with those demands." The voice came from a decisive source as, with it, Mariana took her seat with an air of smugness
Banera sighed. "Fine. Evangeline, Permission Granted. Purge that demon, and every Unholy trash that rises under its will."

So did Evangeline pray, and so did her Goddess answer. The Enforcer became damn near a solar flare, and the angel felt the locks unleashed within her. Ah, to embrace this power again....... she thought. As the power grew, so to did her rage as well as a single word. "Purge.......Purge........Purge!" It was pure unadulterated bloodlust, and the woman brimmed with it as powerful as the power she was just granted access to. She floated to the ground as the light rescinded. Her wings a translucent pearlescent white, her hands trembling with the rage that filled her, Her eyes bloodshot, and the blade HOWLING for the blood of the Unholy.

The men in the Vanguard began to feel empowered as well, as their blades began to glow with imbued Holiness. The Vanguard was ready

Dr. Laylah Halliet the Guardian​

"ORDER!" The second order has to be called. Unlike Evangeline's call, which struck fear of the wrath of the Holy Gods into the hearts of those around, this one soothed their souls. This one reached further out as well, to the Reinforcements. Thus not only the difference in personality between the two, but the clear power difference. "Gods, Goddesses, MY God Qeien (Kee-yin). Divinity begets Divinity. Divinity culls Divinity." The woman's words were slow and powerful. She had called many many Orders in her time as an Angel. She was a 6-star after all, an advisor to them. "In other to purge the clear and present threat, I, Laylah the Guardian ask for a full release in my power for the purpose of ending this danger and saving the brave that are to fight." It was incredibly formal with the justification well laid-out. Thus the difference between killers like Evangeline and negotiators like she had to be.

This wasn't it though. The more important part has yet to come: Sacrificing this Dragon Egg. "I also request a Holy Sacrifice of this precious Divine life, for them to enter the Gates for giving their unborn life for this Crusade. Serving my God or not, it never brings me joy to have to end an unborn life, but with their place in Heaven secured and this Crusade carried out, I pray that I may forgiveness in the eyes of this child. If not, the eternal torment of this ordeal shall serve suitable punishment."

Spoiler: Order Ruling 2

On High- Holy Throne Room

"Qeien?"
"Aye. You heard her." The voice of the Guardian Prince and God of Life Qeien was as silky smooth as His protege. To him, it was very clear the justification. Nothing less from a 6-star. "The price for failure will be eternal torment."
"Isn't she itching to burn Kraiven to the ground undeservedly?" This came from the adversarial Goddess Banera
The man didn't miss a beat though. "I didn't deny Laylah because they didn't deserve it," Qeien cleared up. He was down to let it burn given the report she gave. "I denied her because she would've been eternally tormented by it, regardless of how justified it would've been." Even after this Crusade is carried out, it will take a long time for her to forgive herself for utilizing an unborn child for this purpose, after judging guilt on Kraiven for them using the lives of children to further THEIR own purpose. Of course the difference is that it's an egg that hasn't even reached the FIRST stage of development (thanks to the Null). Dragon Eggs took a LONG TIME to hatch given their Divine status. Kraiven just straight up used currently living children and transferred to them a deadly disease from someone else. Still, in the eyes of His sensitive 6-star, it wouldn't be enough catharsis. "I'd rather not my advisor be tormented acting on her own emotion." If she were ORDERED to burn it down, she would do so. Not HAPPILY, but without torment. That wasn't the case though. "If she is to carry out my will, I will not lead her to self-harm."

Banera pressed though. "You'll grant her the power to fight too? A double request?" Order was a call to request something normally outside of their normal means. Those requests had to be specific and with justification. A double request was kind of a big deal.
Still, Qeien trusted his 6-star. She wasn't an Advisor worth her salt if she couldn't be trusted with a double request. "Do you not believe that this is a double request kind of situation? She has to start the Crusade, and then partake in it."
Silence at the table, so Qeien stood up. "Laylah, my protege. Both requests have been granted. Know the scope of your request to the scale of the threat. I release your pacifism under the stipulation of fulfilling the conditions of these requests. Failure is indeed eternal torment."

So did Laylah pray and so did He answer. "Time to begin," she whispered as she began to glow and her 6 wings extended to triple their normal length. It was indeed showy, but much less flashy than Evangeline's signature blinding light. The Dragon Egg crumbled away and Ascended into the sky before disappearing. She pointed down to the unconscious Lostrogret, and a massive sigil opened. This was the same feeling as Sanctified Holy Field, but on steroids. She was augmenting the Vanguard even more, but now- "You will leave this child in peace, Mozreliun! Not from whence you came. You are Guilty and death is your sentence!"

Lostro began to shriek an ear-shattering shriek that could be heard for miles and miles around, screeching as if in extreme agony. In a way, she was. She was being attacked and a demon being forced out of her body. She rose into the air and began building up the signature Lostro aura, that darkness and malevolence that struck fear into the hearts of anyone around, the chill that never left the spine of all who were anywhere near. Sebas sped up his horse, easy given that the thing that spooked the horse was exactly what it was running from.





Correct choice. "AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!" It was the voice of Mozreliun, projecting that malevolent cackle over the land. Coming from beyond Lostro as the girl's mouth wasn't moving this time. Or was it? She was surrounded in a massive blob of darkness high in the sky. Laylah's pre-emptive strike was over. She had done a TON of damage to him, but didn't fully exorcise her. As was intended. If Lostro were fully exorcised, she'd be killed almost immediately. Instead, Lostro was about to make up the core of the Ancient Demon Mozreliun. "Force me from this child?! I'LL DRAG THIS CHILD DOWN WITH ME!!" The blob dropped to the ground and unleashed a devastating explosion upon the land. Havoc it wrought, destroying in its wake everything in a quarter mile radius. A blast extending high as if travelling to the Heavens, it was visible by every soul above on that rock and more than likely in the world where the clouds finally gave way. Those directly underneath Kraiven and the clouds wouldn't be privy to this sight, but this was going to be written by the scribes.



When everything cleared and the air dangerously charged by the interactions of Holy and Unholy residue, a beast remained in the now smoldering and destroyed land. An absolutely massive serpent of 10 heads, with a body of pitch black and eyes of red. Its body coiled endlessly, and every head of the snake looked like it could extend so far that it wouldn't be illogical to question if it had its own body. It was surrounded with that same aura that was the signature of the child they all came to know and fear, just on steroids.



The Good News: This wasn't a flying enemy. This meant that they wouldn't need to cripple it in order to hit it.

The Bad News: This was still a dragon. Those scales were very identifiable. Even if they did, one didn't need to be a scholar of mythical beasts to know that this was a Hydra. A demonic one.

The Badder news: This form was fitting. Very very fitting for the mission. Why? "Be advised all units," Sebas called from atop the hill at the very front of the Vanguard, standing beside Evangeline. Sebas wondered if it would've been better to just take on a flying Dragon because....... "SHADES ON!!"

WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Calm Before the Storm

This moment of quiet, where all hands waited poised at their station in tense anticipation, was the accumulation of many things. Hours of prepping for a war, days of planning for a siege, months of searching for this hunk of rock, years of torment for a forsaken child... and centuries of that same hunk of rock waiting to be freed from its self-inflicted prison. For those who had to contend with matters of duty, with matters of morality, and matters that could no longer be ran away from, coil after coil had been sprung. For many, this was only the beginning. For others, there was no going back. For now, the scope of it all was obscured by the mother of all plots, under the shadow of gods and angels and demons in the presence of mortals.

The final coil was about to be sprung. How ready was everyone for it?


Faith - Fortified

The building power of Mozreliun assuming his battle form rattled every five sense. Though the destructive range of Dark magic was abrupt, even up to the Gates did Bogrum feel the remnants of its shock wave. Lostro's shriek was ear-piercing, the pillar of energy was blinding, and the singe of burning land stung his nose and bit his tongue. Maybe that last part was psychological, considering how far he was from the fallout. Very little of this was new to Bogrum.

And yet, this was unlike anything he had seen. The order to put on their shades came just in time, as several horrible serpent heads rose above the treeline, evil eyes barely grazing over the tops of trees. The size of this monster was difficult to fathom, much less the power he held. It was all it took for Bogrum to know that this wasn't a battle they could win without the aid of the Holy.

I'm counting on you, Doc. The safety of every soul in Kravien-- of or invading in-- depended on those angels, more than they depended on the mortals risking their own souls to aid them. You gave me your word.

Bogrum looked over to Arnold Asella on his horse, then across the rows of soldiers and crewmates at their stead. Again, he was hardly serene, but he still had Dr. Laylah's reassurance. Her support would guard his heart in this bloody battle. He rose his axe. "The Gods favor us today! Don't disappoint them; protect what matters most!"


Faith - Fragmented

Even Nancy could feel it. A wave of something terrible barreling through the air, in its wake a sickening dread that could only compare with the Blight he had become acquainted with in this disgraced Church. For the first time in 200 years, the first major threat had finally touched down onto Kraiven's land.

Only... it wasn't the first. Not even close. The first threat had been the Blight itself, brought upon the kingdom to resurrect the dead at the great price of unleashing a horrible plague. Then there were the pirates, the few of which who wanted to spare his people being their saving grace. Then the wrathful Evangeline, who would kill indiscriminately if it meant crusading against the Unholy. Then the presumably pacifist Laylah, who wanted to purge the entire kingdom over the egregious crimes of a few terrible people.

And he understood. Gods, did he understand. Seeing terminally ill children who had no hope for survival, who had received no love while suffering for the rest of the kingdom's comfort, filled him with a despair he couldn't begin to understand. But... justice HAD been served, and justice was waiting for those who's continued existence was only for the benefit of the rest. What good would come of punishing everyone who happened to be around when atrocities were being committed?

If I'm just as guilty, why was I Ordained to live? The trust he held fast for so long was crumbling. Angels who were supposed to protect them wanted them dead. The King had allowed the Church to commit atrocities, while letting those who had misgivings be killed. Goddess Marianna let his people go extinct... yet, she still cared. The proof was resting in his satchel. Just as she had been there for him before limbo, she was still there when he came back. As faithful as he himself had been.

"You were always there for me. Especially when I had no one else." But the isolation and loneliness he experienced as a child couldn't compare to what these Blighted children had gone through. "You want me to repay that? I'll repay it two-hundred times over, for every year those children suffered." His faith in the Holy was squandered. But his faith in Goddess Marianna was absolute, if not for being a Goddess, then for being Herself. The greatest good he knew, in a universe full of flawed beings. "You have my word, My Goddess."


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Demon Reaction

The Demon hissed and a pulse of darkness came from him and flowed all over the land. Then.........hands popped up from the ground. From the Epicenter to the forest to the Gates, undead began to rise. These were skeletons. At the epicenter, they were generally unarmed or armed lightly with swords. At the Gates, however, they were heavily armed. This was due to the cemetery that was near to the Capital City. Swords/Spears, tower shields, they were ready for combat. At the forest, they were more armed with magic.

• Church: Undead Underneath
• Gates: Heavily Armed Undead
  • Enemy of Notice: Lich
• Forest: Magic-powered Undead
• Vanguard: All around; Incredibly numerous
  • Enemy of Notice: Mozreliun

Nakaos
Skies above the Battlefield​

Naka quickly turned on the Shades filter on her glasses. "Men, you heard Sebas. Shades on. The enemy is visible." Naka didn't understand WHY she had to put on Shades when dealing with the Child, but the phrase resonated with every member of the Basenjis. Almost like Sebas had Pavlov'd them. "Foremen, tell crew that Shades are to remain on at all times, and if they break or lose them, they are not to look out at enemy until they are replaced." This was nothing more than her own over-protective worry over her men. They already knew, because Naka had drilled it into them

"Naka, let's get a Holy Bombardment on the area." It was Raid Captain Avery behind her looking at the screen of the battlefield. "Once the Vanguard storms, we will be useless in that regard."
"Acknowledged, Raid Captain." The woman was given orders and as her eye was single, her mind was single. She tapped her crystal. "Men, we will bombard time now." Straight and to the point as always. No one was as in command of her troops as Naka was over her lizardmen
"Yes, Boss! Any specs?" It was one of her Foremen in her ear.
"Holy explosives should be already loaded. Non-smoke." She responded without missing a beat. Holy Smoke rounds would come later if things were getting dicey, because it meant that they'd have to whip on the gas masks. "We will refine after the first shot."
"Aye. 10 seconds!" It implied that the Holy Rounds were already loaded. Of course it was. Naka wasn't gonna be the one to tell them to load the appropriate round for the appropriate enemy. She had more faith than that in her crew
"Be advised Vanguard: Bombardment commencing." The sounds of booming gave her the feedback she needed that the attack was launched.

Elaina Melora
Church​

Spoiler: Quick Gun Tutorial

Elaina looked at the few troops she was given. Marksmen and Holy units called Deacons. The Holy were here to fortify the Church and charge up attacks, as well as heal the injured. The marksmen were to establish a defensive perimeter around the Church. Elaina herself had a Rifle and showed a pistol to Nancy. How would you teach a Locathah how to use a gun? She had to do it quickly. "Tutorial: Point." She pointed at a wall. "Click." BANG! Elaina fired a bullet into the wall. "Kill. Simple. Understand? Do not point at it unless you plan to shoot it." She gave him the pistol and then 3 mags, and walked him through how to reload it, then watched him do it to ensure he had it down. Nancy lacked heavily in dexterity, weird considering that he was an alchemist and it required precise measurements. Then again, he was being taught by the woman who threatened both of them, so maybe that was the reason why. Not like she cared, because you didn't need a lot of dexterity to shoot something at point blank range.

"We have a situation where the enemy cannot be looked upon without wearing Shades, lest you turn to stone. What this means is that we must repel the threat before it makes it to Toron." If that beast got to Toron, it was basically over for the Kraiven residents. "That is not our fight. OUR fight is defending this Church." Elaina had the magic to let everyone see through a Shades lens, effectively eliminating the need to wear them so long as she remains around. "Not to say I don't have faith in my comrades, but I don't have faith in YOUR comrades. The front gates are one thing, but they're not the only way in."

"Be advised all units: We have made contact at the Gates. Undead." This was Demi's voice, and Elaina kept her crystal on speaker as otherwise, Nancy wouldn't hear it.
"Elaina, there are 2 graveyards within Toron." This came over a private line. "If undead are rising from the one at the gates, there is a good chance there will be risen from those 2, as well as the Hero's Catacombs near the castle." So there were 3, and the 3rd sounded like it would be major pain in the ass later on
"Lady Elaina! There are undead underneath the Church!" Mariah was frantic in her words. Guess her Watcher abilities were starting to come in, because even she herself didn't sense those undead. Then again, she was dealing with all this shit.
The Scout sighed. "Great," she muttered, already done with this. "Nancy, first mission: Go purify the corridors. Otherwise, the dead down there will rise again." She looked to her troops. "Give me 1 shotgunner and one Deacon."

2 stepped forward. They were noticeably less refined and more savage-looking than Elaina, at least when Elaina didn't have her boot on the back of Ves. "You heard what I just said. Investigate, exterminate, purify. There are children down there. If they are undead, kill them. If they are Bligh-" Elaina sighed. SHE had just learned what it was. She needed them to get the order, not the why. "Hold them at gunpoint and tell them to not move. Let me emphasize this: DO. NOT. KILL. THEM. UNLESS. THEY. MAKE. A. MOVE. TOWARDS. YOU." They were pirates. They wouldn't know the difference between undead and blighted. She couldn't even tell the difference between blighted and demons. She said this slowly so there was no confusion. "Whatever you kill, I want their body cremated in purifying fire."

"If you wrongfully murder one of these children, our Enforcer and our Guardian WILL know about it, and it'll be out of my hands. Am I clear?"
"Aye!"
"You will be working under Nancy, and you will be protecting him with your life. He has a special relic that will save him from death. If that relic activates, you will both die. Am I clear?"
"Aye!"

In one fell swoop, Nancy had to work with these pirates, work UNDER this woman, and go purge the undead in the Church.
"The rest of you, I want half with me. We're headed to one of the graveyards. The remaining will be under Mariah here setting up the defensive perimeter."
As Elaina took her leave from the Church, rifle in hand, her mind was frankly worried. Worried that something was gonna happen to Mariah, or that she would get cold feet about something.

Arnold Asella
Toron- Gates
​

He looked to Bogrum. "Aye, we will protect our land!" A massive cheer as the dead rose in front of them. These skeletons looked menacing, heavily armed. They weren't blessed with Evangeline's wrath, so it would be a harder fight.

Undead rose from the slightly beyond the Gate. These were of warriors that gave their lives for the previous crusade. They rose and immediately casted spells, mostly Fireball and Icicle. Fire and ice flew towards the Gate at the will of the demon in control of them. The fire was hot and the ice was sharp. It was no easy task, but defending the Gates was a requirement. A skeleton of notice was a Lich that shot powerful ice magic. Hope the duo packed some kind of holy water to splash their equipment with to take this enemy on. Arnold did

The difference between his troops and Bogrum's troops hit him hard. The pirates all had these firearms, allowing them to fire from a distance. For range, Arnold's troops had magic and bows. The pirates had more firepower and strength. Arnold had specialized methodology. For a defense effort, maybe this could work. "Kraiven Troops, we will follow the pirate's lead. When they shoot, we will focus enchanted bows and magic." They couldn't riddle the battlefield with ranged fire while there was a high chance of hitting their troops. "When they charge, we charge!"


Bogrum's Leader Options

1. Focus fire on ranged attackers- Confront the enemy at range to take down as many ranged attackers as possible before having to charge the close combat troops
   • Advantage- Path is easily cut through after the close combat troops are dealt with
   • Disadvantage- Troops will suffer a charge attack
2. Focus fire on close attackers- Confront the melee attackers at range to stave off a charge
   • Advantage- Staves off a charge
   • Disadvantage- Ranged attackers go mostly undealt with, making it harder to fight the Lich
3. Charge!- Blitz the enemy right now and trade casualties for crushing the opposition as quickly as possible
   • Advantage- Immediately cuts a path to the Lich
   • Disadvantage- Not without a lot of injuries and casualties
4. Request an air strike- Have Demi send out a Wyvern Squad air-strike
   • Advantage- Demi's Forte, causing heavy damage to enemy troops; Targetable to a target of interest
   • Disadvantage- Cooldown
5. Request a Bombardment- Request Demi bomb the enemy area with explosive firepower
   • Advantage- Hurts many of the enemy troops pretty evenly
   • Disadvantage- Naka's Forte, not Demi's so shots will be less accurate; Cooldown, and a longer one than an airstrike

WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

They were in this now. If there were undead under the church, there was a good chance they were popping up anywhere else in the city, a prospect that made Nancy's stomach drop. The faces of everyone he knew flashed before his eyes, inducing a near panic at the thought of them being attacked in their own homes. He did his best to swallow his fears but his breaths were still elevated, perspiration rehydrating his slime coat and making his scales shine like beads of sweat. It choked out any anger he held towards Elaina and her fellows; it was still there, but it hardly mattered at this moment. At least she was still using his name, so perhaps her own anger was on the back burner too.

"What about those pregnant nuns?" he managed to get in before she left. "Sister Mariah said the babies are still alive." Nancy could only assume that ANY of the dead could rise, Blighted or not. With the only way to purify an undead being burning them, that would mean killing the fetus. All things considered, keeping their living members alive was priority, but the prospect still was nearly petrifying. It felt wrong to him, like smashing someone's unborn eggs.

Whatever Elaina instructed him, Nancy had to get his head straightened out for this. Taking a decisive breath, he looked to his two intimidating accomplices. "Okay. Let's do this."


Back down the catacombs and into that stifling, foreboding air, Nancy mirrored Elaina's demonstration by keeping his readied pistol pointing at the floor. Ears primed to catch any sound that wasn't their quiet footsteps, he tried to tune out the thudding of his heart, hard as it was to ignore when it was ready to burst out of his chest. It was horribly silent as before, but there were signs of disturbance. Dust clung to the air more than before, and there were scatterings of gravel on the floor. He was expecting to hear shambling corpses any second, and was praying to his Goddess that they wouldn't meet any of the living, Blighted children. He had to be ready to either whip out his Coin or put a bullet in them. Despite the thick webbing of his hands, he possessed more dexterity than a surface-level glance would give credit. Pointing and shooting wouldn't be a problem; however, actually hitting anything was going to be a challenge when his damn hands couldn't stop shaking.

Bogrum Mazoga​

With the troops rallied and ready to fight, Bogrum willed himself a little more hope, even in the face of an intimidating adversary. Even though they were skeletons, all were heavily armed and packed with mana, not to mention there was already a Lich among the undead. Enemy fire concentrating on the Gates, it was clear Mozreliun was itching to get into the city. A treasure trove of souls ripe for the taking inside, the demon had to be keen to grow the power lost after Dr. Laylah's ritual. Not on their watch.

Bogrum quickly cycled through his options. He could assume this to only be a fraction of even the demon's diminished strength, yet they were still starting off pretty strong. He figured they ought to as well. Like ranged fire, they wouldn't be able to utilize aerial attacks without the risk of friendly fire, so they might as well tap into that now before the two forces met.

He felt the ground rattle under his boots, bright blue flashes spanning over the forest. Naka was already beginning her bombardments right off the bat, which affirmed his decision. "Bogrum to Demi. Requesting an Air Strike. Target of interest is the Lich near enemy's central formation." Thin down the enemy force before sending their own in, with the intention of reducing their own losses.

Fergie​

A fucking Hydra. Of course, it was just too fitting. Adrenaline put ice in Fergie's veins upon seeing glimpses of writhing coils through the trees and brush. The demon's obsidian scales were so dark they hardly reflected any light, truly pitch black even in the full noon sun. It reminded her of the enchanted Viperfish from that diving mission, though the dread levels were ramped up to way past eleven. The Vanguard had their work cut out for them, even with Evangeline's buff. No cutting off the head business here, which would make targeting the demon's body much harder when fending against those giant jaws.

But that was for the Vanguard to worry about. Her group already had their own troubles to contend with. "Egh!" Fergie sprung out of the way from where a skeleton was literally ripping the ground underneath, as if those bony fingers were claws. She swiftly closed back in and sent a boot into the damn thing's head as soon as it popped up, scoring a goal between two trees. But more were coming, and this one wasn't finished yet, fumbling to an aimless stand without its head but still very much animated. Worse still, she immediately noticed their glowing hands, even more visible under the shade of the forest. Some even carried staffs. These were exclusive magic users, and NOT her forte. Fuck. She couldn't have chosen a better partner than Fatimah for this.

"Aim for the heads and hands!" she called out to her troops, kicking the headless skeleton down and sending its bones clattering. With no lips to make incantations with, they couldn't cast spells otherwise, and they couldn't see the target without a head. Furthermore, they were in a forest, so obstacles and shelter were abound. Magic shots could be easily deflected if her troops stayed alert. Splashing her blade with some Holy Water might have made quick work of these weaker enemies, but since they were weaker she didn't bother. Both she and Bogrum had ensured their respective troops possessed at least one vial, or were stationed with someone with one. It was better suited for stronger foes to come.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

GATES​

Spoiler: Request Accepted

Demestral Asella
Skies above Toron Gates​

Demestral smiled as she heard Bogrum's request. "Air Strike incoming. Stand by!" the line petered out and as soon as she did and whirled around and began to run, wasting zero time. "I'm heading out for a strike!" she told her co-captain, the usual commander of the Caboose. "ATTEN-SHUN!" she yelled when she made it out to the deck. The plucky pixie didn't stop moving though as she ran to the edge of the ship. "Strike Team! There is a lich below. 60 seconds to kill! MOVE!" This order was completed by the time she made it to the edge, so as soon as she got there, she hauled ass overboard without a second of hesitation.

The wind on her face made her feel alive. Flying. Ah, to fly was her purpose in life. She couldn't help but feel invigorated even given the situation they were all in. That was the Vanguard's thing for now. Free-falling to the battlefield below, she took in the scene. A group of skeletons down below, Bogrum and her dad's troops engaging at a distance. They were probably requesting this strike on the leader because it seemed like the lich would summon more undead, or at least raise again what they already killed. No matter. Until the demon summoned more, that lich was going down. "Come, Quincy!" she called in Draconic tongue. A roar from out of nowhere and her freefall was cut short by landing on the saddle. Her strike team behind her, the strike began

The field was crashed with a flurry of Fireballs and laser-like flamethrowers from above. Explosions could be felt in the chest and heat could be felt from afar by the troops positioned at the gates and Draconic roars, squawks, squees, and squeals filled the air as the lich and everything close to it was reduced to ashes. 60 seconds from order to completion of the execution, Demi's Strike Team was the team of the most highly trained Riders.

The Wyvern-mounted leader flew over to the gate crew and gave a rigid salute. "Strike Complete! Good luck!" she said with a cheeky grin before taking off back to the ship with the Strike Team. Even in these circumstances, Demi would be Demi

Result:

• Lich is dead, drastic enemy numbers reduced
  • Melee-heavy remaining troops, negligible amounts of ranged left. Some magic left, but nothing as strong as the lich
• Reduced to ashes so they can't rise again.

Reaction

As the lich lay in a pile of ashes, its red glowing core remained. Darkness poured out of it into the remaining skeletons before it too greyed out as if turning to stone, and crumbled into ashes. These remaining skeletons, the receiver of the Lich's Core got an evil glow in their eyes and their bones physically thickened. Those originally unarmed pulled some out of the shadows.

They went from meandering towards them to full blown sprinting at this point. Their bones thickened, armor equipped, and weapons equipped, Mozreliun was gonna make them work to keep that gate defended

Arnold Asella
Toron Gates​

With their new enemy about to be upon them, he gave his troops orders. "Shields up front! Support Mages right behind, Battle Mages will pick them off!" There was no point in their archers doing anything. With those thickened bones, only a gun was gonna damage them, so it would be a waste of ammo unless they were enchanted, which not all of them were. They didn't exactly have access to Holy Water, and their Holy Magic was weak as it was still returning and returning too slow in the Guildmaster's mind.


Bogrum's Leadership Options (As always, thinking outside the box is always an option. These are just suggestions)

• Blitz them- With pirates not exactly being known for carrying shields, blitzing them is an option
  • Advantage- Same as the last, the fight will be won
  • Disadvantage- .......With a heavy toll on Melee troops, forcing a reliance on ranged troops while they recoup
• Team with the Stoneroses- They DO have shields but not guns. Have the Basenjis get behind the shields since their guns can still bust skulls
  • Advantage- Good balance of Offense and Defense
  • Disadvantage- Literally a phalanx formation which involves very little movement. Vulnerable to magic
• Magic Shield- Put all mages into projecting a Dome Shield, allowing the Basenjis to pop their skulls while they try to break it
  • Advantage- Guarantees safety
  • Disadvantage- Heavy ammo and mana expenditure
• Request Bombardment from Demi- Demi controls the ship. Bomb the place
  • Advantage- A consolidation of enemies guarantees it clears the wave
  • Disadvantage- The skeletons are charging and fast. There is only 1 way to consolidate them. That 1 way will get this request denied without a workaround
• Request Reinforcements- That's why Fergie was there. One half was for the Vanguard and the other for the Gates
  • Advantage- Easy neutralization of the enemy
  • Disadvantage- Less troops in the woods, which would affect reinforcements in the future, and affect Fergie's troops in the forest should she accept
• Request Bombardment from Basenji- The Daddy ship that is parked over the reinforcements, will you help the Gates at the cost of the Vanguard?
  • Advantage- Destruction of the enemy before they advance
  • Disadvantage- Cooldown for Basenji Bombardment (2) on both Vanguard and Gates; High risk of friendly casualties
• Request an Air Strike- On Cooldown (2)

------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler: The Cyclops and the Cat

Nakaos and Avery Valencia
Skies over the Vanguard​

Avery got the report that the reinforcements had made contact in the forest. He noticed something strange though when he looked at the map. "Naka?"
"Yes, Raid Captain?"
"Can you do a traditional bombardment for an area you are directly over?"
"No," she responded, "Since projectiles must be upwards, a bombardment will only damage ship."
Avery chuckled at how she spoke. Fergie probably would've asked him if he was retarded for even asking, yet Naka was answering as if it were a good question. "It's a rhetorical," he said, his tail waving in mirth. "I know directly below is a blindspot. Something's off though."
Naka didn't know what rhetorical meant and it seemed like he knew the answer when he asked. Was she missing something here? His laughing wasn't exactly setting her at ease either. It stirred up a bit of anxiety in her, which was a rarity. "........Naka feels like victim of joke," she responded. It was the only thing that made sense to her. She was legitimately trying to understand her allies better, so to be teased about it was......... She didn't even catch that Avery said something was off.
"Nothing of the sort, Naka. Honest. You are well-liked and not for no reason." He had to reel it in before he makes her feel dumb unwittingly. "Rhetorical means you don't have to answer it."
While her head didn't move, the cyclops's eye drifted over to the screen. "............." Naka couldn't understand why someone would ask a question not expecting an answer. It was one of many ways Naka couldn't comprehend the social norms of her allies. The gears were turning but nothing was clicking.
Speak her language. Blunt business, Avery thought. This was an unintended result. "The point I'm making is that Adonis positioned his ship DIRECTLY OVERHEAD of the reinforcements." In other words, Fergie couldn't request air support of any kind
"How will reinforcements receive air support?" she asked.
"Exactly what I was getting at." The Basenji was in prime position to support both the vanguard and the gates, as was the reinforcements. However, bombardments weren't even a option anyways. They were in woodlands. Even a kinetic bombardment would just make the woodlands 100x harder to traverse. "I suppose......that I can make myself available for tasking." Avery had his own Strike Team.
He tapped his crystal. "Be advised, if you were identified to be part of my Spec Ops team, return to me on the Canine." The catboy truly was working from the shadows Henceforth, I and my Spec Ops team are available for tasking for the Forest and the Gates."
"Are you sure?"
"Aye," Avery responded. He didn't bother with the vanguard because both the Angels were there. "If they're all down there fighting, I'll be remiss if I can't cut down a few myself." He knew he had to lead, but he wanted to fight. He had been giving troops heads up and whatnot and traversing between the 3 ships, but he wanted to strike! "Oh, and Naka."
"Yes, Raid Captain?"
"If I made you feel uncomfortable or like I was joking at your expense, my apologies."
"You are forgiven, Raid Captain. Naka isn't good with speech," By that, she means figures of speech like rhetoricals and sarcasm, "but..........." She struggled with it. "Naka....... seeks to converse better with allies." There were 2 Giants in the Basenjis, and only 1 Naka
"That is why you're well-liked in this crew. Keep it up." Avery said as he walked out, actually feeling a bit guilty. He never really spoke to the Giant more than he needed to because she always weirded him out, but......... damn did it make him feel more guilty acknowledging that he was so weirded out in the first place towards this woman who literally made it a mission to speak on their level, being an outsider to both their language and their norms.
The cyclops looked back towards the mission, feeling slightly more accomplished this time. Avery seemed like her but in a different way. "Thank you, Raid Captain........."

Avery is now available for Spec Ops tasking for the Forest and the Gates

• Very long cooldown, but can be tasked to do nigh anything so long as it's ground-based. Use it wisely as it is VERY potent

Spoiler: Forest

Fatimah
Forest​

The leader of magic in the Basenjis, Fatimah felt calm. If anything, she would be drinking a cup of tea right now. She inhaled. "Mages, focus on their magic troops," Fatimah said to her troops via telepathy. They were all decent with magic, so at this point she didn't need to say anything aloud. "Strike with precision as they will be the most troublesome." Holy Water or not, there seemed to be zero issue in dealing with these weaklings.

She herself wasn't about to waste the mana clearing this field. She drew her rifle from the strap on her back, which glowed slightly to show it was enchanted. "Fergie, consider the magic troops dealt with." Bang! Fatimah fired dead into the head of a skeleton, and it automatically ricocheted to all 5 standing near it, jumping like it was Arc Lightning. This took so little mana from her vast pool that she replenished it before she even noticed that it cost mana TO fire. Thus the power of a magic master, and the spell she used was a basic one


A Forest Enemy

A deer came walking out of the brush. It had the same demeanor as "An Alpha Stag, undead," Fatimah said to Fergie. She wouldn't overbear the raid captain with details. This deer was, like every other undead, a walking bag of bones. Like every other Alpha Stag, it was strong for a magic user. Normal Alphas Stags can use both fire and ice. Its horns were as sharp as their blades and its demeanor no different than any other Alpha Stag. However, under Mozreliun, this thing raised animal undead, which would be troublesome in their own right. Undead SQUIRRELS were fast and furious but weak. Undead DEER were aggressive magic attackers. Undead BEARS were bulky and strong. There seemed to be quite a few of these, so it suggested that Mozreliun liked to play around.

Creature of Interest: Alpha Stag, Undead

• Uses powerful Dark spells
• Able to re-raise Undead animals
• Able to go both Close Combat or Ranged

Fergie's Leadership Options (As always, thinking outside the box is always an option. These are just suggestions)

Fergie was a good all-around leader, as Sebas could assess. However, she couldn't cover all weak points. It was on her to ensure that she wouldn't cause hardships on her troops, and with Fatimah at her disposal, maybe she could..........

• Blitz Them- Enemies should be approached with aggression, so she thinks
  • Advantage- Cull the enemy with ruthless aggression
  • Disadvantage- You know it, you love it......... Heavy tradeoff for Melee troops, forcing a reliance on ranged and magic
• Magic Aggression- Fatimah is a reliable leader. For troublesome enemies, she should be relied on in this case
  • Advantage- Forces enemy reliance on melee
  • Disadvantage- Forces Fergie's leadership on melee against more aggressive troops.
• Magic Blitz- Fatimah destroys enemy troops with extreme aggression with her troops
  • Advantage- Most troops basically eliminated with extreme precision
  • Disadvantage- Fatimah is also very particular because she has few troops. No magic offense for the remainder of this wave, forcing a reliance on non-magic; Aka Cooldown for the wave
• Kill the Quick- Focus on the rodents. They're all mostly melee so killing the small fast ones would stop their advance maybe
  • Advantage- Slower enemies, allowing for more prep time
  • Disadvantage- Deer (Magic) and Bears (Bulky) in their immediate future (1)
• Kill the Bulky- Focus on the bears. Since they're more bulky, the last few will be mosquitos
  • Advantage- Less resilient enemies overall
  • Disadvantage- Deer (magic) and Rodents (Fast) in the immediate future
• Kill the Whimsical- Focus on the deer. Since they cast magic, they are a unique foe that presents unique issues
  • Advantage- No more Magic/Ranged enemies
  • Disadvantage- Rodents (Fast) and Bears (Bulky) in their immediate future
• Request Bombardment- Adonis parked his ship in the wrong location; Naka can bombard
  • Advantage- Naka will bombard with extreme precision, allowing specific targeting if desired (Fast, Bulky, Magic)
  • Disadvantage- Forest terrain will be MUCH harder to traverse; Cooldown for Vanguard
• Request Spec Ops- Avery apparently has a special team available for missions
  • Advantage- Available for nigh anything, including killing off the current wave entirely
  • Disadvantage- Very long cooldown (4), not to mention that it's a cooldown for Bogrum as well

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sebas and Orabelle Deadeye
Vanguard​

The vanguard charged after the bombardment. Naka was spot-on as always as a lot of the enemy minions was cleared.. On his horse, the captain was not gonna let this opportunity pass him by. He charged with the Evangeline-charged troops. The skeletons weren't anything to really take in mind. The Vanguard charged, the captain with his daughter horseback riding beside a Viking on the back of a bear

Orabelle was armed with her staff. Trained by both Evangeline and Laylah, the Triton girl couldn't be more in her element as she fired off spells left and right, or smacked skeletons as they rode by. Soon, the main battleground was filled with clashing blades, the shrieks and wails of wraiths and gunshots. The air hung heavy with the stench of death. Good thing that, right now, it was just the stench of death and not the stench of blood, as it meant that they were being cut down. The few that did had the power of the Sanctified Holy Field at their disposal

The basilisk hissed and 3 of its 10 heads came together and began charging up a ball of magic. "Yeah, that shit will kill us," he muttered, and banked his horse to a hard right. The Sanctified Field isn't some substitute for stupid-ass actions. The more times it activated, the more strain it would put on the angels. In other words, them being smart would enable the angels to subdue Mozreliun easier. "Angels......."
"I'll stop it," Laylah told him, before unleashing some god-handed orbital light beam that made Sebas regret not wearing Shades. Mozreliun hissed in what Sebas could only interpret as pain, as by the time the beam rescinded, he was steaming as if he'd just gotten cooked. 3 heads were gone, smoldering. It would regenerate at some point, but it would be slower this time around

Sebas and Ora were very close to the beast now. Sebas started putting shots into one of the heads, with Orabelle holding on and protecting the horse from skeletons as they rode. Mama Bear charged forward and slashed into the main body while Ash jumped up from the bear's back and, with a spin and a lot of momentum, lodged her axe into the neck of one of the heads. Unfortunately for her, the axe got stuck on the hard dragon scales.

Evangeline was everywhere all at once, her blade feasting on the darkness and the laughter through it all the most sadistic sounding laugh Sebas had ever heard. Then he realized something. While Evangeline was purging her heart out, she wasn't doing so mindlessly. She was downing all of the stronger enemies FOR them. Hell, she was so full of holiness that just flying near a weaker enemy killed it on the spot

They were doing a good job of keeping the beast still for now. They were striking fast and furiously. "Lostro, I know you're in there. Even when that demon has taken over, I still don't turn to stone."

-----------------------------

Church​

Spoiler: Pirate Buffoonery

As the trio moved deeper into the Church, the duo with Nancy seemed uncaring about what they'd take on. "Why does Elaina gotta be such a bitch and talk like we're dumb?" the deacon of the pirate duo said
The shotgunner shrugged. "Don't know. I like a woman with some spice though. Gotta admit Elaina's hot."
The deacon scoffed. "Yeah, but the crazy hot scale. Elaina is smoking hot, but she is batshit insane. You know she does human experimentation, right?"
The Shotgunner didn't seem fazed. "She can experiment on me all she wants." The dude was a dog indeed.
"Hell no. She is one of few that Adonis allows to keep slaves. She has 7 of them."
"Oh to be one of those 7."
A smack in the shotgunner's head from the deacon. "No wonder she talks like a bitch to us. She can piss in your mouth and you'll thank her for the drink."
"..............." The shotgunner was not denying this fast enough.


The duo continued their conversation completely ignoring the Locathah they put ahead of them to lead them to Eden's Door. "Look, 5 of those 7 slaves, she has stolen one of their 5 senses to enhance her own." Vision, Smelling, Hearing, Taste, Touch. One of those slaves is blind, one deaf, one numb, one unable to smell, and one unable to taste. "She has to keep them alive and healthy though because if they die, she loses that enhancement. It's a symbiosis."
"A symb-........" the shotgunner didn't know what that meant. "So she takes care of them?"
"Yeah. She HAS to. She's leeching off their senses but she needs them pristine so she can keep leeching. She sounds more like a witch than a mage."
"Done deal," the shotgunner fired back. "I get nursed and fed by a hot chick every day. I can take being unable to smell." This was the difference between a magic user and a non-magic user. The non-magic user didn't give a shit about the difference between a witch and a mage, let alone the difference between holy and unholy. It was all nerd shit.
"You're a wild wild man, Jack." They were at Eden's Door at this point. "The other 2 slaves she tests her concoctions and potions on. Who knows what the fuck they do?"
"Is she poisoning them?"
The deacon readied his gun. "She hasn't replaced them yet, so I guess she wants them alive like her other 5."
"How do you even know all this?"
"..........She's hot. Had to confirm the crazy. She's CRAZY."
"Nah, you're a stalker," the shotgunner said. Elaina didn't leave that kind of shit in the open. "Unless you do some out there shit, you won't know a THING about that woman that she doesn't want you to know. NOTHING can hide from that bitch. She is the master scout for a reason."
"I asked Baroness about her."
".........yeah. Stalker. Before Evangeline did her in, you couldn't get Baroness to say or do anything without a fortune of a tribute....... and you chose to spend that ton to ask her about Elaina."

As Nancy moved towards their destination, the answer to his inquiry towards Elaina replayed in his head. "What do you expect us to do?" Elaina asked him bluntly, "We can't grow a fetus in a dead body. If that fetus isn't ready to deliver, that fetus is done." Yeah, if a pregnant woman does and the fetus isn't ready to deliver, then it dies with the mother. "Send it back to Goddess Mariana if you want. A fetus currently growing in an undead holy woman? That's that holy unholy stuff that's right in her Trench to deal with. For me though, preserving a dead body to grow an incomplete fetus to completion is the exact type of playing god shit that caused this situation in the first place."

She looked at this naïve specimen. "Look, I say bullet it and call it day, but........." she sighed. "If you begin cremating the body in holy fire and pray to your Goddess and ask Her to receive that baby, it should work. The fetus will still die, but it will become Goddess Mariana's." She hated that her dedication to being the resident Basenji nerd didn't stop with the Basenjis


As the stairwell winded downwards, the deacon could feel more and more their coming encounter. "Nancy, if you just learned how to use a gun," the deacon said, "Stay the fuck back and prepare to run." His demeanor was actually serious now, unlike how the bickering from before would make him think. The shotgunner kicked in the corridor and had his shotgun at the ready, the deacon on the other side with his revolver's business end ready.

Within the corridor, there was now life in there. Well........unlife. Upgraded unlife. The pregnant nun was there, still in her tattered nun garb, still visibly pregnant. This time though, she was armed. Eyes bloodshot, hands bloodied, and armed with a rapier, they were charged immediately. Not just this pregnant nun, but one of the children as well. BANG! No hesitation from the shotgunner to drop the child. BANG! No hesitation from the deacon to put a revolver round in the pregnant nun's head. However, the pregnant nun staggered back. Head destroyed yet still meandering. "The fuck?" the shotgunner asked. "It's destroy the head, right?"
Another revolver shot and another shotgun shell to the head, and the pregnant nun wasn't going down

The deacon stepped forward and conjured up a white flame in his hand. With a flick, the wisp wafted over to the kid's body, setting it ablaze. "Let's skip to the cremation for all of this," he said. "Dead kids and pregnant nuns? Freaky shit. I want to burn this whole place down now." Very familiar words, and these two had no idea what all this even was.

"We're working under you, Nancy. Are we going hot?"


Nancy's Options

1. Try to save the fetus- That fetus was GOING to die physically. It was just a matter of sending it to Goddess Mariana
   • Advantage- Sending these unborn to Goddess Mariana before timed killed them would earn him favor with Goddess Mariana, making him stronger
   • Disadvantage- It put them in danger, not to mention he had to convince these two to do it in the first place
2. Let the killers kill- If it was going to die anyways, he can let the pirates do it
   • Advantage- Safest option
   • Disadvantage- No disadvantage beyond personal anguish, or the risk of disappointing his Goddess
3. Attempt to revive the Pregnant Nun- A holy woman growing a life as a product of actions Nancy didn't even want to imagine? Could he make the case to his Goddess to save this nun?
   • Advantage- 2 more lives saved
   • Disadvantage- It involves the most dangerous route in having to capture the nun with only 3 of them in this corridor. Plus, if it turns out that this nun was UNFAITHFUL, then it would get denied anyways

WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Bogrum Mazoga ​

The wyrvern attack was a sight to behold. Bogrum and Arnold's troops were treated with a fire dance display, the aftermath having reduced the land before them to smoldering ashes. The air around them stank heavily of death and cinders, and for once the affront to his nose was welcome. With no losses, this wave of enemies was already thinned to almost nothing. Bogrum returned Demi's salute, grinning as much at her enthusiasm as with his own gratitude.

As for that "almost nothing", the Lich had an ace up its sleeve before crumbling. They were also treated to a display of demonic prowess, undead armoring up in more than one way before their eyes. Bones grew in size until they looked more orcish in nature than human. Forget milk, maybe he should start chugging Dark Water. Being funny won't help you here.

These superpowered skeletons were ready to strike back hard, but at least they were reduced numbers. "Commander! If your men focus fire on their Mages, we'll gun down the melee troops." It was too small of a force to waste advanced or supplementary forces on, even though it crossed his mind to shield up. Bogrum had the feeling that Mozza was just playing with them, thus wanted to save mana for a bigger threat. If they were tactical, he expected they could handle this.

• Team with the Stoneroses - Basenji gunmen alongside shields, with Stonerose Battle Mages offsetting the chance of magic attacks wiping out their close-quarters formation

Fergie​

Well, that was a nice little warm-up. Fatimah completely blasted those skeletons, leaving Fergie's troops to sweep up the crumbs. Now what did Mozza have for them next? "Eh? Critters?" Yeah, that checked out. Of course a forest would be full of dead animals. Fergie noticed the Stag right after Fatimah sent her warning. Hard to miss a set of razor-sharp, glowing horns. It weaved between tree trunks on dainty legs, graceful in undeath as it surely had been in life, and was prepping to gracefully gore them or fry them with some magic hits. This had to be the same deal as those glowie sharks and viperfish from before. She could expect magic buffs to the lesser creatures, and she was already seeing the underbrush rustle with unlife.

Fergie could take care of this now, blitz the hell out of this oncoming wave as was her natural instinct, but that wasn't her job here. These were the reinforcements, who needed to be kept in good fighting shape or at the very least ALIVE, so they could supplement the other forces. Hitting the enemy head-on now would thin their numbers and wear them out. She could have Fatimah's troops wipe out most of them, and while it would be a big power expense, she could recharge mana faster than Fergie's troops could recuperate.

Maybe they could get some ship firepower? Eh, no. Both Naka and Demi sounded busy on both ends, and from looking up through the leaves, she could tell that idiot Adonis was STILL parked directly over them. Besides, a few enemies weren't worth burning down the whole forest over.

"Fatimah, I want that Stag and them wee critters dead. We'll take care of the bears." The Deer was the most complex enemy that she didn't want her troops dealing with. As for the rodents, her troops were fast, but squirrels were fast AND small. Try catching one of those things, let alone try to hit one when it's coming at you in a flurry of teeth and claws, and that's all they needed to maim or even go for the jugular. Bears were nothing to sniff at, but they were slow and predictable, and most of their strength was in their weight. Still huge and armed, but literally only skin and bone now, their lethality is diminished. A small team of troops could take one down easy.

• Magic Blitz - Fatimah EXCLUSIVELY targeting Stag and all Rodents, Fergie locked in melee with Bears

Nancy Noi​

Spoiler: For You, it was Tuesday

Nancy was getting a good glimpse at how little this all mattered to the pirates. Well, yeah, they were the ones fighting the demon up front. But it was all their choice, and they had everything to gain from it. They weren't the ones about to lose their home and favor with the Gods (though really, considering where they had to flee a war to the first time, did they ever have that?). This casual attitude these two had didn't surprise him, but it highlighted how deeply his own worries coursed through him.

On top of... EVERYTHING, their careless crewmate gossip "reassured" him of yet another Bad Thing to Be. Human experimentation? Slaves kept to boost her magic prowess? So, what exactly did Sister Mariah see in this Elaina person? Again, there's that concern for children but complete devaluing of adults. Nancy could agree that it was so much worse to hurt a child, but to make a full 180 other way?
Whatever helps you sleep at night, Lady Elaina. Maybe the slaves she kept were terrible people, but for Elaina to feel justified, he didn't expect they had to have committed the most grievous of crimes. She felt justified in threatening Vespera's life over a few snarky words, so it couldn't take much.

With a shake of his head, he sighed at himself. Being too presumptuous here. Elaina's alleged character wasn't the problem right now. He and his sister's safety might be at stake after all. If she was fine with experimenting on humans, other creatures weren't off the dissecting table. In a sense, anyway, as he somehow doubted she'd waste one of the two remaining Lungborne on a petty dissection. If not safety, at the very least their freedom could come into question.

Pragmatism vs. Altruism

Back to the Bad Thing Right Now: the Blighted undead. As told, Nancy retreated from the front to the back, letting the two take the lead. Within moments, they were being closed in on, and gunfire pierced his ears. Nancy was treated with the sight of a child getting shot re-dead, and viscera oozing from perfectly round wounds. At this point, none of it compared to what he had first seen in these awful corridors. What he felt now was a strange pull.

Could he save both of them? The nun was still standing, her womb unhurt. Was it even possible? If you died in the Spirit Sea, it could be assumed your soul was lost out there too. He didn't pretend to know how any of this worked, and right in the middle of combat wasn't the time to wish he had chanced those lessons in taboo magics. Ignorance and uncertainty aside, he had to make an informed choice.

Nancy wasn't about to just let anyone die. But he wasn't going to put people in danger for the slim chance of saving someone already dead. It wasn't HIS life at stake here, and these weren't his lives to risk, pirate or Kraiven. Under better circumstances, they could try to make a case for all of the dead and defiled in this corridor, but with a war waging above them, it just wasn't practical. It felt callous of him to dismiss it in such a way, but he knew where his priorities laid. Protect the living. Let the dead rest.

Since the fetus was in a strange state in between, being destined to die, he could do what he could to ensure it was sent to a better place. "If you can keep her distracted long enough, I can make a quick prayer. My Goddess wants this child. She'll bless us if we succeed." It didn't matter to him whether She did or not, but he tacked that on because he knew the pirates wouldn't get anything out of this otherwise.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Gates

Arnold Asella
Toron- Gates
​

"You heard the man! Shields, keep holding the line! Mages! Enchanted Archers! Focus fire on the mages!" He himself hung back with his troops. Being a warrior, they were going the keepaway route overall

So the formation was rigid and close. The Basenjis got behind the shield soldiers and popped off shots that could still damage these literal hard-heads. The shield formation initially held up well, but as the skeletons started to batter it, it began to relent. While holding up a shield didn't exactly require a bunch of skill, these were people who hadn't fought for 200+ years. Their strength was weakened overall, especially in the presence of these weirdly strong skeletons under Mozreliun's influence.

It wasn't that long until the first few faltered, which caused more to falter. That was the weakness of the phalanx. It involved all of them pulling their weight. Anyone slacks and it would fall apart. If it fell apart, their unmoving nature was subject to flanking. This caused the pirates to use more ammo than they thought, and since it was quite a while since the Kraiven troops had to fight, there were some casualties which, from the Basenjis who needed to fire more frantically, caused them to fire more

Ultimately though, they managed to cull the wave. If they blitzed them, it would've been a very hard fight should these empowered skeletons return

Result:

• Heavy Ammo expenditure; Resupply needed
• Moderate Shield Troops (Kraiven) casualties: Healing needed
• Wave complete- They could take a break to lick their wounds for a bit

Borgum's Leadership Options:

1. Request Demi for Resupply- They needed ammo for more ranged attacks. Send some down from the ships
   • Advantage: More Ammo
   • Disadvantage: No Shield-related defensive options in the next wave
2. Request Demi for Healing- They needed healing for injured Kraiven Shield troops. Otherwise, their physical defense was lower for this next wave
   • Advantage: Defensive Options available
   • Disadvantage: Little Physical Ranged (aka bullets) options for the next wave
3. Request Adonis for resupply/healing- The Basenji was available for tasking for those regards, since they are part of the same crew
   • Advantage: Resupply of Healing or ammo without using the resources on the Caboose (Demi)
   • Disadvantage: Leeches these off of the reinforcements; aka, none of these for the reinforcements should they request it
4. Request Avery Spec Ops- Spec Ops? They could do whatever Bogrum asked, so the catboy says. He was quiet towards the orc, but never dishonest
   • Advantage: Malleable to whatever Bogrum wants
   • Disadvantage: Long cooldown, not only for Bogrum but for Fergie as well (4)

Demi's Airstrike Cooldown (1)


---------------------------------------------

Fatimah
Forest​

"Aye," Fatimah said simply, then gave her commands to her troops. "Track the small ones and end them. Leave the the bigger ones for the other troops," she told her troops telepathically, "The stag is mine." Systematically, the mosquitos that were the smaller enemies were shot down with extreme precision, either with bolts or bullet if not both. Fatimah didn't prioritize them. She wanted the larger game. If this is the best of what Mozreliun had, he was about to die pretty soon and this fight was about to leave their Basenjis with a hyped up yet unfulfilled bloodlust.

It was time to confront the stag. The woman had pulled out her revolver and put bullets in the heads of squirrels with extreme magic-guided precision. It took Adonis to guide her in this direction. Instead of casting magic bolts, it took 1/4 of the mana to fire an enchanted or guided bullet. Plus, whether they could block bullet or magic, they may not be able to block both. Most couldn't. With this realization, Fatimah became much more of a battle mage than just a magic scholar, all thanks to a rifle and revolver.

She confronted the Stag. "I will take your upgraded skull as a trophy," she said decisively. "The darkness within it will morph it to an even greater beauty."

Fatimah lured the Undead Alpha Stag away from the rest of the action and then a clash of magic Titans ensued. Explosions rocked the forest and trees fell, almost creating an entire clearing with the sounds of their own fight to the death.........er, undeath?..........end. Fight to the end. This stag clearly would've been too much for Fergie's crew and this is where Fatimah shined. While the stag put up a good fight especially with its 200 year old magic, Fatimah was simply too well-versed in both magic and battle experience to ever be taken out by a magic-user. She wasn't the leader of magic for the Basenjis for nothing. She wasn't in Adonis's Circle for nothing.

Result:

• The Stag was dismantled
• Fatimah's troops are exhausted. While they can fight, no more advanced tasking for right now. Otherwise, it sends them into magic coma, dismantling all magic capability
• The remaining undead animals are bulkier

Reaction

There was no reaction from the Alpha Stag. Why? Fatimah was the resident Basenji Magic Master. She stopped that Alpha Stag crystal from empowering. If not tasked to stop the Stag, either those squirrels would've gotten faster, those bears would've doubled in bone density, or those deer would be casting some pretty high level stuff. Fergie tasking Fatimah on the Alpha Stag effectively saved her crew from getting wrecked

Still this left the bears and, like it or not, bears were no joke even alive. UNDEAD bears were as powerful as living bears with inherent pain-numbing. To engage them in MELEE was a bold move whether or not they were empowered. Casualties were had as Fergie's numerous weaker troops had to take on literal undead bears in melee combat

Fergie's Leadership options

1. Blitz Them: With the Deer and Squirrels taken out, the bears WILL fall if all troops switch efforts to focus them
   • Advantage: The bears will fall quickly, allowing more time to recover
   • Disadvantage: Not without casualties as always
2. Swap to Ranged: Do the game of keepaway from these much slower bears
   • Advantage: Safer
   • Disadvantage: Moderate ammo expenditure
3. Stay the Course: Stick with melee for the general attack
   • Advantage: Saves ammo, no additional orders allowing for a quick switching of orders
   • Disadvantage: Draining + casualties to melee troops

---------------------------------------------

Church​

(Wanted less articulate speech in the shotgunner, so that's why the dialog style changed for him.)


"Fucking hell, Jack," the deacon said with exasperation, teeth grit and wanting to shoot everything. "Nancy wants to play the goody."
"Fii' die? Selling the soul to come fillet im'," the shotgunner said, "but wer under orders." It was a begrudging acceptance of the orders, but an acceptance nonetheless. If nothing else, Nancy couldn't say that they didn't adhere to the hierarchy.

"Fire is distracting though, so she can burn," the deacon said darkly before he passed the holy flame over to the pregnant nun, who ignited. This was followed by the shotgunner drawing his blade and, in one fell swoop, cleanly sliced off the nun's legs between the ankle and knee as she charged. Along with an inward kick to her knubs, the kick flipped the nun on her back in a frontflip. Guided by the shotgunner to the ground, she was burning on the stone floor heading towards ashes along with the fetus. The nun was held down by the deacon's boot, burning in holy fire, with the shotgunner waiting for more to charge after reloading his shotgun. Character flaws aside, Nancy couldn't say they didn't know what they were doing. This was.........killing? Yes but no. Clearly they knew how to kill, but also knew how to judge, and they judged his intent clearly. The fetus was to survive. The nun wasn't. Their brutality intimidating given how much blood was pouring out from the nun's severed legs and the shotgunner wasn't caring in the least as the blood soaked his feet, but their brutality wasn't mindless at the very least


Nancy got his wish, but he wasn't gonna malinger around. He chose to involve himself in the fight, so he would be part of it. If he hesitated, he'd lose his chance. It was now or never. To the pirates, if not for their resident nerd staying their blades, this wouldn't have happened, but they were under orders. "Nancy, find your words and send them to Mariana," the deacon said. THIS showed that, pirate or not, he was still chosen for the holy just like Nancy was, and he knew SOMETHING. While that something didn't extend to respect for his Goddess, he was also being looked on by a god

BANG! Another undead child down. "Yeah, fish." the shotgunner said aggressively as he began to load a replacement shell. "'urry up. Not dyin' fer some optional shit."

(btw, this CAN fail, so make that justification well yet not exceedingly long)

------------------------------------------------

Sebas/Orabelle Deadeye
Vanguard- Battlefield​

Mozreliun hissed into the sky, then coiled up to swipe his tail in a massive sweep. Horses were devastated by this attack and the intent was obvious: Reduce mobility. Sebas's horse was no exception to this, as their horses were blasted into the woodline, killed immediately. The attack was easy to see coming, but getting a horse to jump in time the first time or die wasn't exactly good conditions for learning new tricks. Ash, of course, wasn't affected. Her war mount was able to see said attack and jump over it.

It wasn't Sebas's proudest moment, but he grabbed Ora's hand jumped off the horse's back, saving themselves as their horse got launched, killed immediately by that attack. He used magic in his jump to propel himself higher. A head is coming off, he thought as he landed on a head and blasted the top of the head with a Slug Round at point blank range, busting the scales. However, before he could stab into the head, another head whipped around and smashed into Sebas's arms and sending the duo flying. Ora, on Sebas's back casted a water bubble to catch them. Submerged in a floating bubble of holy water, they were now a bit of ways away and without a mount. "How will we defeat this demon, Papa?" Ora asked him from within the bubble
"We keep attacking. Stronger," he said simply. He didn't have an answer right now. This was a Hydra. To kill any regenerative being was to deal damage faster than it could heal. They had that ability, especially since holy attacks on an unholy enemy took far longer to heal than normal attacks. Still, in order to pierce it with a holy blade, one had to........you know, PIERCE it. Even if Sebas busted the scales, it needed to be done at a base, not a head.
"Grant her heart Descension. The Abyss will make her whole."
"You heard that, Ora?"
"The Trench speaks and we listen." She said with a grin, showing her razor sharp teeth
Sebas smiled. He could only admire the child's ability to not fall into despair in such situations. "Indeed my dear." Goddess Mariana had spoken and all followers had heard. "Goddess, you drive a hard bargain to make me kneel." Sebas dispelled the water bubble to drop them to the ground. "Make her whole and we will both be Yours." he said as he grabbed his cutlass and shotgun. Orabelle was one thing. Her case was one where Sebas unwittingly found himself "Sebas to Evangeline."

All Sebas could hear on the other end of the line was Evangeline's joyous laughter and repetition of the word "purge." He sighed. "Evangeline, you picked up the line so you're conscious. Turn your efforts to the Demon and let Damond handle the small fry. Hunt the big game."
"..........Acknowledged." Almost immediately, bright flashes of light as Evangeline began pelting the demon with beams of holy light. Each beam that touched down unleashed a flashbang into the lands of the embattled fields. Were it not for Shades, some members would be having seizures about now.

Another hiss. "ENOUGH!" Mozreliun roared.......Then he burrowed into the ground.

This was not good. If that demon reached Toron, he would make a full recovery on the souls in that city. "Be advised all units!" Sebas yelled. "The demon has burrowed underground! Expect some fuckery! Angels, excavate his dumb-ass!" The fuckery was indeed beginning as the Sanctified Holy Field shattered. The real game was beginning. Sebas could only hope that Mozreliun underestimated them for minutes too long. "SHF is down. I repeat, SHF is down. The game's beginning, ladies and gents."
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Bogrum ​

After the last of this wave was picked off with increasingly frantic firepower, Bogrum assessed the damage. Some losses, but sooner than expected. It seemed he banked a little too much into the Kraiven's physical prowess at this time. Though it was clear they had continued their training in peacetime, they hadn't fought an actual battle for far too long to be rushed into this. Though that could be said with every unit, with the amount of power behind their magic users, Bogrum was realizing what strengths he needed to play into here. The Basenjis were more fit overall to face the fray head-on, while the Stoneroses had the magical strength to assist them. Even though this was a defensive effort, reducing their mobility wasn't in their best interests.

Now that the fight had died down here, Bogrum could hear the battle from across the forest, popping gunfire and blades against bones. Thoughts of who was still getting hurt out there set him on edge, even though he knew his mind should be with the people he actually could do something for. He made to focus on the next, recuperative effort. "Bogrum to Demi. Requesting ammo resupply." The Basenjis' advantage was in their weaponry, thus was a must to keep at ready. Though their defenses were battered enough to be out of commission for a while, it wasn't enough to expend a lot of their medicine on at this time. They had mage medics on the field for this reason.

Fergie​

Whatever the hell Fatimah had done to the Stag, it did the trick. Considering those heavy thumps of falling trees and the clearing that remained, Fergie wouldn't be seeing those antlers again unless mounted on a fine mantelpiece in the Magic Master's room. With the small fry popped into bone fragments, that was two big problems down. Now there was one... pretty big problem.

The bears were approaching fast, much faster than anticipated. Hardly with the speed of those rodents, but they weren't exactly the shambling, awkward skeletons Fergie had expected. No muscle, no sinew, yet they bounded as smoothly as if they still had all their parts. And of course they did, of course Magic just fixed everything. It fixed her leg, why wouldn't it for these undead beasts hopped up on Demon Lord crack?

"Holy shit-- change of plan, lads!" Fergie whipped her pistol out of its holster, held in her dominant hand while her blade rested in the other at-ready. "Pump 'em full of lead!" Yeah, if these were anything like normal bears, they were going to get slashed into ribbons if they charged headfirst. Fergie wasn't going to make her troops play stupid games with Nature, they could do that when they were called on as reinforcements. It would be an ammo expense, but after that Golden Guns raid, she had no worries of running low on supplies this soon. And there was no point in saving up on ammo when more troops would be too dead to use it later.

Nancy​

"Play the goody." So that's how it was? Seemed like no one would be happy whatever he did, whether inaction regarding "missing" children or acting to rescue who was left. But he wasn't in the market for pleasing people today. Nancy was hardly doing this for himself, let alone for the pirates. Not even for his Goddess, as much as he yearned to give back to her. These children were forsaken, from no fault of their own. They deserved to be saved. Though in fairness, he couldn't blame the two's apprehension. Again, it was their lives on the line, which was why he was going to have to be quick yet articulate about this.

After what he'd already seen in these very chambers, the brutal sight of the nun's dispatching wasn't about to make him retch on the spot. But he was struck by it. As she was savagely pinned down by a bloodstained boot, those pale holy flames created an image of dissonance. Visceral violence, ended with a holy purge withering away sins left by the godless. Another gunshot and barbed words shook him from getting lost.

Approaching the body until the heat warned to go no further, Nancy lowered to his knees, head bowed and hands clasped. "My Goddess, I beg of You, please grant this blameless child sanctuary." Ascension? Descension? Whatever it would be in Goddess Marianna's hands, Nancy knew. "Without Your grace it will be forsaken to the Godless Realm, where it will have no protection from evil." Throat tightening, his voice would be strained now if not for it originating from his crystal. "Please... save it from the fate we doomed it to." Let it know the love and peace we failed to provide...

------​

Mozza Breaks the Game

It didn't matter how far away they were. Everyone within a few miles radius was feeling the rumbling that pulsed from Mozreliun's burrowing. Like a minor earthquake, but there was nothing minor about this demon going where he pleased.

Fergie was a little busy putting bullets in bear skulls to ponder on the ramifications. If he wanted to trying digging his way through roots to get to them, he could be her guest, but she had a feeling where he wanted to go.
Bogrum, in that same line of thought, felt dread shoot through him upon Sebas's warning. If a beast that large could cleave through undisturbed dirt like butter, it would have no issue pushing through rock and stone. Worst of all there was nothing he could hope to do to stop it.
Nancy, trapped in his own hell of life-or-death, couldn't know what was happening on that front. But he was left with a cryptic message from his Goddess.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

With Mozza burrowed and the Angels about to release him, this was about as close to a break as the embattled pirates get. The casualties began as soon as the SHF went down, but Mozza's first wave was easy, and that was due to Doc's preemptive strike, Evangeline purging with her full Goddess's might, and Damond blasting through every thing. Still, with all of this fighting going on and the first wave complete

"Sebas to Nakaos. Requesting ammo resupply. Include Mana Potions." They needed to get SHF back up. They used a lot of magic yet they couldn't have the angels do everything.
"Acknowledged. Ordinance incoming."
Doc began healing with very potent healing magic. Thus her job. In the meantime, Evangeline began working on a spell to force the demon out. "Forest Units, begin positioning troops to the front of the forest towards the Vanguard. We will potentially intercept the demon there depending on how close he's able to get."


But while this fight was going on, so too were their minds having their own battles, and they best bring it to rest so they could focus up for the next wave. Mozza was about to come back stronger than ever and our combatants would need to squeeze out every drop of focus on it

Demestral Asella
Skies above Toron​

"Ammo Resupply incoming!" Demi called back without hesitation before hopping to it in typical quick Demi fashion. A lot of hesitation-less determination if not infectious spunk. It could end up begging the question of why a girl like her chose to be a pirate in the first place. She was about as pure as pure gets. "Atten-SHUN!" she yelled over the ship intercom. "Ammo resupply! Quickly!" The ship moved to her words and the pixie was happy that there were no complications in regards to her position on this ship.

Spoiler: Demi x Vespera

"Elaina to Demstral." Now why was the resident nerd calling her?
"Yes?"
"I need to know if the Stoneroses are tackling the other graveyard. I understand you were familiar with that vampire."
"Yes, she was my best friend for a long time." Those words were an uncomfortable truth she didn't want to say. After 200 years separated, were they friends? Demi knew that she loved Ves with her whole heart, but was she her FRIEND after all this time? Now wasn't the time ponder that. "I'll put you in contact."
"My thanks." With that, the connection petered out.
"Demi to Vespera."
"Hey Demi!" came the exclamation from the vampire. Looks like they were indeed still friends. "I'm happy to hear your voice!"
"I'm happy to hear yours too," she responded, heart elated. "More than you'll ever know. This is important though."
"What do you need?"
"Elaina is asking to get in contact with you. She's taking on one of the graveyards, so she need to coordinate."
"................That woman?" the tone shift was staggering. "She threatened my life! Why would I ever work with her?"
"Because our loved ones are in too dire a situation for infighting," Demi said simply, "Please Vessy. I'm not asking you to like her. Just work with her for this. Then we'll leave."
"You're leaving again, right as you just got here?"
"There is nothing for me in Kraiven." Those words poured out of her without hesitation. No matter how she felt about anybody, it was in her heart of hearts that she needed to leave Kraiven. Even after 200 years, she wasn't ready to return. Quincy would have her head if she gave up.
"I want to leave too. I want to find my parents." The words were a flashbang to the pixie, but it made sense. After 200 years, they were living in a completely different world. "I miss them horribly," she said, voice cracking. "Please tell me they're OK."
"They are. The Seyres Aristocracy is alive and well. Come with us the Basenjis and we can get you there."
"I can't join your crew, Demi-"
"-and I can't have you wandering around aimlessly," the Caboose Captain said decisively. Vespera would never find her parents without them. "Just work for me in the meantime. I'll give you your parent's contact while we take you to your parents."
"What about Elaina?" It seemed the vampire was truly scared of the witch.
"Elaina is a slave-owning sadist, but she's not a senseless murderer." Demi was never a fan of Elaina, but what did she do to make Vespera fear her? Vespera could easily kill Elaina! "Just please don't do this on your own."
"I just don't want to rape and pillage to get there."
"Who do you think I am?" Demi asked, offended. "I have my job but I also have my boundaries." Demi wasn't gonna act like her hands weren't blood-stained, but rape and pillaging innocents? Absolutely not. Rapists weren't allowed in the Wyvern Riders Squad. "I know it's a lot after 200 years. Please just trust me."
"I trust you." While Demi could hear that Ves was a bit jaded, at least those words sounded genuine.
"Can we speak later?" Demi asked, full of concern.
"Of course. We have so much to catch up on."
"I'll get you in contact with Elaina. Just...........I don't know, just destroy the undead. I promise you don't have to deal with her for long."
"I guess I will."
"I love you, Vessy. That never changed."
".........I needed to hear that. I love you too Demi, and I'm so glad you're OK."
It made her chuckle. "Quincy won't let me die, so I'll be around until he does," she said, "Until next time."
"Until next time." With that, the connection ended.

By this time, the order for the ammo resupply should be complete. As Demi looked at the screens, the reflection in the box showed that she had been crying this whole conversation. It hit her harder than she thought about meeting everyone again after literally 2 centuries. She was thinking like a mortal. The feelings of immortals tend to withstand the test of time.

--------------------------------

Arnold Asella
Gates of Toron​

The former Pixie was happy. Mozza's wave was defeated and the trust in the pirate raised if only slightly. "Lick your wounds, gentlemen. Let's get some healing." On queue, the healing mages began their wounds. It wouldn't be a complete recovery, but hopefully they could survive another wave of Mozza's legion. Potions would allow a full recovery but he needed to save that for more dire situations.

The ammo dropped from above for the pirates. These weapons. These guns. It dawned on him very hard that if not for those guns, they would've lost in the first wave. If they were fighting the Basenjis, it would've been a slaughter. Like complete no-contest. That's not even mentioning how strong the Wyvern Riders were with how they devastated the battlefield. Their soldiers needed to tighten up. Then again, this was the first time they've fought for their lives in literally 2 centuries. "If that happens again, we will drink strength potions." With the rust off their blades and that first victory raising morale, maybe they could win this fight

Then the tremors started. "Earthquake?"
"No, the demon has burrowed!" One of the pirates yelled. A knot formed in the man's throat.
"Then we prepare for the worst. If that demon makes it to the city, our only option is the Church." And that would come with devastating effects to the population.

Ashlynn Thormdottir
Vanguard​

As the human/bear duo bounded the embattled fields of the vanguard, Ash was manic with bloodlust. "Mama Bear, lets take this fucker's head." the woman told her familiar.
"It's a Hydra, my Cub." the bear said ever-so calmly. Her Cub needed to learn patience. "We must think before we strike."
Ash wasn't a Mariana follower. Therefore, she didn't hear the proclamation from the Trench. "How do we usually defeat Hydras?"
"Kill it faster than it regenerates."
"Faster methods, Mama Bear." she said impatiently.
"A base in the heads is usually a weak point." So strike at the base.
Ash then got off of Mama Bear's back. "Answer me something: Do you think Lostro would forgive me?"
It gave the bear pause. The woman was oozing murderous intent and this was the question she asked? Lostro was the child Ash never did have. It was in these instances where Mama Bear needed to bring her back to earth. Her Cub didn't want to do this. This fight was weighing heavier on her heart than she let on. "To Lostro, you are auntie Ash. I'm sure Sebas is experiencing the same dilemma." Mama Bear said. Then she goes for the jugular. "Destroy her and trust in your companion. You are no use to her dead."
"I trust your words."
"I will never lead you astray, my Cub. Are you wavering?"
She was. Ash was wavering, and it was something she didn't want to admit. Taking the heart of her [adopted] child. After the loss of the child during her pregnancy. It hurt, but she put on a front. "Never do I waver." she said decisively.
Her Cub refused to be honest with her feelings. It was why Ash couldn't evolve her. She wouldn't burst the bubble though. She needed a push in this situation, not reprimand. "Then splash some Holy Water on your blade and TAKE. HER. HEART." Mama Bear said forcefully. This little break was all she figured they'd have. "You are a brash one. This is not the time to think. This is time to do."
Ash sighed. "You're right. We will deal with the rest later." Her words were what she needed right now. Ash put up her axe and pulled out her sickles


--------------------------------------------

Church​

"Your prayer has been heard," came the response from a woman so high yet so low. "I will make this child whole." With that, the flames burning the undead nun got exponentially brighter and more intense. "I thank you for sending me a new son, and I thank those pirates for their leniency. For that, I will show you why Vespera is leaving."
While the Shotgunner and the Deacon put down more undead, Mariana spoke. "Prepare yourself Nancy. This one is going to hurt. You know her Deep, but I am the Goddess of the Deepest Deep." Another information dump. This one would make Nancy see Vespera in an entirely new light. "I won't put you to sleep, but I will blind you and make you see."

With that, the Locathah's vision was forced away from him. All he could see was the POV of being thrown into water and sinking low. The Surface, the Deeps, then the Deepest Deeps, where the last vestiges of light gave way into the pitch blackness of the Deepest Deeps. From there, Nancy began to see

Content Warning: Talks of Mental Health, Racism, Suicide

Spoiler: Vespera's Turmoil

These were her memories of her time in the Null Realm. Cut off from her family and then locked into this land. Vespera went to faraway places often, so pushing Kraiven into the Spirit Sea essentially turned the empire into a prison for someone like her. A crippling depression, many many nights spent crying, suicide ideation. Camping for DAYS at the edge of Kraiven looking into the Spirit Sea mulling over whether she should just jump in and be done with her misery. Praying to every God she could think of in hopes that one could hear. Offering to sell her soul to any demon who could hear. Of course they never could. Vespera was the master of the front. Her bubbly and happy-go-lucky nature was indeed genuine. She was loving and accepting of everybody. Especially to non-humans, especially to the Stoneroses, the guild of mostly nonhumans. Even to King Hemhart himself, Vespera is the darling of the capital city...........and the girl's heart-wrenching inner turmoil was kept secret. And this was on top of the PTSD everyone got from the war, and having to rebuild the city, AND adjust to living in a timeless dimension.

Her work was her life. She made herself into a workaholic, taking on all of these jobs just to keep herself distracted and doing SOMETHING. Never wanting days off because those days would be the worst days, where she'd mull about her manor almost like a zombie or in a lethargic trance, or casting powerful sleep spells on herself so she can skip to the next day and not have her dreams full of PTSD, or her family, or suicide. It cannot be understated just how deep the feeling of isolation, loneliness, and depression Vespera felt. Such isolation and loneliness wasn't helped by the fact that she was a Creature of Darkness, and a lot of people simply disliked the fact that she was born a Creature of Darkness. The Locathah was no stranger to racism, but his was different. It was mostly just the weird looks that come from a human-sized fish walking around. Ves was a Creature of Darkness, a vampire. There was genuine malice, genuine hatred on sight the moment they saw those red eyes or fangs. The feeling of not belonging was something Nancy knew about her, but it was so bad that she had begun to hate herself, hate her red eyes, her sharp ears, her fangs, her brown skin. It would play in her dreams the mean hateful words said by person after person after person, the shoving of mail back in her face, someone maybe spitting in her face and calling her a dirt-skinned blood leech, others saying her eyes were those of evil. Nancy knew Vespera tended to take racism in stride. Clearly her taking it in stride was during the confrontation. After hearing it enough and by enough people, who WOULDN'T start internalizing it?

Even as a courier, she was fearful about some jobs because what if the client hated her on sight? Then that self-hatred turned into guilt because this is part of her heritage and it was like spitting on her family. Then there was Nancy and Nellie, which literally physically hurt her to see, knowing that she couldn't have the same. She couldn't hug her siblings or her parents and it was a painful reminder. Then the guilt hit about her being envious of Nancy/Nellie and made her feel like an absolute piece of shit.

She counted the days. She wrote in her diary and Nancy could read some of the tear-stained entries from the memories. So so many letters she wrote addressed to her brother or her sister or her parents, recounting some of her days and watching them go from hopeful and optimistic in cheerful Vespera fashion to more depressing and full blown hopeless by the end. Some of them she couldn't finish writing because she ended up curled on the bed crying, but unable to sleep without the aforementioned powerful sleep spells unless she wanted to wake up in a cold sweat reliving the horrors of war when the capital city was invaded

The spark of hope returned to her as soon as the tear into their reality opened, and they found themselves back on Earth. The presence of Demi turned that spark of hope into a whole forest fire of hope. Demi was her key to seeing them again.

She has to get out of here. There is no other option. She gave Kraiven everything she had for over 200 years. She will go down in legend, her name already written in Kraiven history books. Her actions will bring so much credit and fame to the Seyres Aristocracy when those records are taken to the scribes. She simply cannot stay here though. This place is the source of so much trauma. She held her head high in public, but Vespera was broken, completely and utterly, and the only way to fix her is finding her way back to her family, her support circle. She will do this last thing for this empire and then get back to where she belonged.

That was the end of the information dump, and Nancy's vision came to at the stairwell that led into the corridor. The Deacon was beside him and spoke as soon it was clear that Nancy could see again. "The Goddess warned me she was making you blind for a bit. Hope she bestowed a good gift," he said. The Shotgunner was herding the Blighted Children into a room.

Nancy was all the more knowledgeable of his friend thanks to the Goddess once again imparting information on him. Nancy knew Ves put up a front at times, but not something THIS deep and painful for her. How would he feel about this information? How could he not see the signs? Did he ever ask her? Was she just that good at putting on a front? Or was her reputation used to assume that she was incapable of that enormous emotional low? Elaina's words about Kraiven came back and it made sense now why Vespera was never the type to brag or why she rejected the reputation of being the Darling of Toron. She was showered with praise and adoration for her accomplishments while being bullied by the people of this city into hating herself. How could she possibly be the Darling of Toron if she's being treated like scum? Why would she WANT to be? Maybe that was why she tended to handle her courier orders without using teleport stones. It was a break from being there. She's a Creature of Darkness in a mainly Holy City, despite the Null Realm invalidating both the Holy and Unholy. Maybe now Nancy understood why she never felt a sense of belonging. Her accomplishments are undeniable, but that was all they wanted to acknowledge of her.

The Church thing was the first piece of information. Vespera's horrid behind the scenes life was the second piece of information. What other secrets about this great city should he know about? Were they even the same kingdom? Kraiven was looking worse and worse the more light was shined on it. Elaina's words about Kraiven's innocent act were more and more accurate.
WayfaringWaaksian